THE  STORY  OF  THE 
SUBMARINE 


THE  STORY  OF 
THE  SUBMARINE 


BY 


FARNHAM  BISHOP 

Author  of  "Panama,  Past  and  Present,"  etc. 


ILLUSTRATED  WITH  PHOTOGRAPHS 
AND  DRAWINGS 


NEW  YORK 

THE  CENTURY  CO. 

1916 


Copyright,  1916,  by 
THE  CENTURY  Co. 


Published,  February,  igi6 


To 
MY  MOTHER 


355264 


PREFACE 

This  book  has  been  written  for  the  nontechnical  reader 
—  for  the  man  or  boy  who  is  interested  in  submarines 
and  torpedoes,  and  would  like  to  know  something  about 
the  men  wrho  invented  these  things  and  how  they  came 
to  do  it.  Much  has  been  omitted  that  I  should  have 
liked  to  have  put  in,  for  this  is  a  small  book  and  the 
story  of  the  submarine  is  much  longer  than  most  people 
realize.  It  is  perhaps  astonishing  to  think  of  the  launch- 
ing of  an  underseaboat  in  the  year  the  Pilgrims  landed 
at  Plymouth  Rock,  or  George  Washington  watching  his 
submarine  attack  the  British  fleet  in  1776.  But  are 
these  things  as  astonishing  as  the  thought  of  European 
soldiers  wearing  steel  helmets  and  fighting  with  cross- 
bows and  catapults  in  1916? 

The  chapter  on  "  A  Trip  in  a  Modern  Submarine  "  is 
purely  imaginative.  There  is  no  such  boat  in  our  sub- 
marine flotilla  as  the  X~4.  We  ought  to  have  plenty  of 
big,  fast,  sea-going  submarines,  with  plenty  of  big,  fast 
sea-planes  and  battle-cruisers,  so  that  if  an  invading  army 
ever  starts  for  this  country  we  can  meet  it  and  smash  it 
while  it  is  cooped  up  on  transports  somewhere  in  mid- 
ocean.  There,  and  not  in  shallow,  off-shore  waters, 
cumbered  with  nets  and  mines,  is  the  true  battlefield  of 
the  submarine. 

The  last  part  of  this  book  has  a  broken-off  and  frag- 


Preface 

mentary  appearance.  This  is  almost  unavoidable  at  a 
time  when  writing  history  is  like  trying  to  make  a  statue 
of  a  moving-picture.  I  have  tried  to  do  justice  to  both 
sides  in  the  present  war. 

I  wish  to  express  my  thanks  to  those  whose  kindness 
and  courtesy  have  made  it  possible  for  me  to  write  this 
book.  To  Mr.  Kelby,  Librarian  of  the  New  York  His- 
torical Society,  I  am  indebted  for  much  information  about 
Bushnell's  Turtle,  and  to  Mrs.  Daniel  Whitney,  of  Ger- 
mantown,  Pa.,  a  descendant  of  Ezra  Lee,  for  the  por- 
trait of  her  intrepid  ancestor.  Both  the  Electric  Boat 
Company  and  Mr.  Simon  Lake  have  supplied  me  most 
generously  with  information  and  pictures.  The  Bureau 
of  Construction,  United  States  Navy,  E.  P.  Button  & 
Company,  publishers  of  Mr.  Alan  H.  Burgoyne's  "  Sub- 
marine Navigation  Past  and  Present " ;  the  American 
Magazine,  Flying,  International  Marine  Engineering,  the 
Scientific  American,  and  the  New  York  Snn  have  cheer- 
fully given  permission  for  the  reproduction  of  many  pic- 
tures of  which  they  hold  the  copyright.  Albert  Frank 
&  Company  have  given  the  cut  of  the  advertisement  of 
the  last  sailing  of  the  Liisitania.  Special  thanks  are  due 
to  Mr.  A.  Russell  Bond,  Associate  Editor  of  the  Scientific 
American,  for  expert  advice  and  suggestion. 

Some  well-known  pictures  of  submarines  are  herein 
credited  for  the  first  time  to  the  man  who  made  them : 
Captain  Francis  M.  Barber,  U.  S.  N.  (retired).  This 
officer  published  a  little  pink-backed  pamphlet  on  sub- 
marine boats  —  the  first  book  devoted  exclusively  to  this 
subject  —  in  1875. 

"  The  last  time  I  heard  of  that  pink  pamphlet,"  writes 


Preface 

Captain  Barber  from  Washington,  "  was  when  I  was 
Naval  Attache  at  Berlin  in  1898.  Admiral  von  Tirpitz 
was  then  head  of  the  Torpedo  Bureau  in  the  Navy  De- 
partment, and  he  was  good  enough  to  say  that  it  was  the 
foundation  of  his  studies  —  and  look  what  we  have  now 
in  the  terrible  German  production. " 

FARNHAM  BISHOP. 
New  York, 
January,  1916. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 
I 
II 

IN  THE  BEGINNING  
DAVID  BUSHNELL'S  "  TURTLE  " 

PAGE 

•     •     •       3 

12 

III 

IV 
V 
VI 

ROBERT  FULTON'S  "  NAUTILUS  "  .      . 
SUBMARINES  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR  . 
THE  WHITEHEAD  TORPEDO      . 
FREAKS  AND  FAILURES  

...       26 
...       36 

•     •     •     43 

VII 
VIII 

JOHN  P.  HOLLAND  
THE  LAKE  SUBMARINES     .... 

...     69 
...     82 

IX 

x 

A  TRIP  IN  A  MODERN  .SUBMARINE     . 
ACCIDENTS  AND  SAFETY  DEVICES  . 

.   too 
.   124 

XI 

MINES      

XII 
XIII 

THE  SUBMARINE  IN  ACTION  . 
THE  SUBMARINE  BLOCKADE 

•     •      -156 

177 

XIV 

THE  SUBMARINE  AND  NEUTRALS  . 
INDEX 

.          .          .      l89 

207 

List  of  Illustrations 

PAGE 

U.  S.  Submarine  M-i Frontispiece 

Cornelius  Van  Drebel 5 

The  Rotterdam  Boat 8 

Symons's  Submarine 10 

The  Submarine  of  1776 13 

The  Best-known  Picture  of  Bushnell's  Turtle  16 

Another  Idea  of  Bushnell's  Turtle 19 

Ezra  Lee 21 

The  Nautilus  Invented  by  Robert  Fulton       ....  28 

Destruction  of  the  Dorothea 33 

Views  of  a  Confederate  David 37 

C.  S.  S.  Hundley 38 

Cross-section  of  a  Whitehead  Torpedo 51 

Davis  Gun-torpedo  After  Discharge,  Showing  Eight- 
inch  Gun  Forward  of  Air-flask 53 

Effect    of    Davis    Gun-torpedo    on    a    Specially-con- 
structed Target       .          54 

The  Intelligent  Whale 58 

Le  Plongeur 59 

Steam   Submarine  Nordenfeldt  II,  at  Constantinople, 

1887 62 

Bauer's  Submarine  Concert,  Cronstadt  Harbor,  1855    .  65 

Apostoloff's  Proposed  Submarine 67 

The  Holland  No.  i 70 


Xlll 


xiv  List  of  Illustrations 

PAGE 

The  Fenian  Ram 73 

U.  S.  S.  Holland,  in  Drydock  with  the  Russian  Battle- 
ship Retvizan 77 

John  P.  Holland .      .     So 

Lake   1893  Design  as  Submitted  to  the  U.   S.   Navy 

Department      .  83 

The  Argonaut  Junior 84 

Argonaut  as  Originally  Built 87 

Argonaut  as  Rebuilt 90 

The  Rebuilt  Argonaut,  Showing  Pipe-masts  and  Ship- 
shaped  Superstructure 93 

Cross-section  of  Diving-compartment  on  a  Lake  Sub- 
marine  94 

Cross-section  of  the  Protector 97 

Mr.  Simon  Lake 98 

U.  S.  Submarine  E—2 101 

A  Submarine  Cruiser,  or  Fleet  Submarine  (Lake  Type)    105 
Auxiliary  Switchboard  and  Electric  Cook-stove,  in  a 

U.  S.  Submarine 107 

Forward  Deck  of  a  U.  S.  Submarine,  in  Cruising  Trim  109 

Same,  Preparing  to  Submerge no 

Depth-control  Station,  U.  S.  Submarine 113 

Cross-section  of  a  Periscope 114 

Forward  Torpedo-compartment,  U.  S.  Submarine  .      .117 
Fessenden  Oscillator  Outside  the  Hull  of  a  Ship      .      .    120 
Professor     Fessenden     Receiving     a     Message     Sent 
Through  Several  Miles  of  Sea-water  by  His  "  Oscil- 
lator " 121 

Side-elevation  of  a  Modern  Submarine 127 

One  Type  of  Safety- jacket       .      .      .      .      .      .      .      .131 


List  of  Illustrations  xv 


PAGE 


The  Vulcan  Salvaging  the  [7-j 134 

Fulton's  Anchored  Torpedoes 140 

Sinking  of  the  U.  S.  S.  Tecumseh,  by  a  Confederate 

Mine,  in  Mobile  Bay 143 

A  Confederate  "  Keg-torpedo  " 144 

First  Warship  Destroyed  by  a  Mine 145 

A  Confederate  "  Buoyant  Torpedo  "  or  Contact-mine  .  146 

Modern  Contact-mine 150 

U.  S.  Mine-planter  San  Francisco 153 

English  Submarine  Rescuing  English  Sailors  .  .  .157 
Engagement  Between  the  Birmingham  and  the  E7-/5  .  159 
Sinking  of  the  Aboukir,  Cressy,  and  Hogue  .  .  .  .163 
Tiny  Target  Afforded  by  Periscopes  in  Rough  Weather  167 
Photograph  of  a  Submarine,  Twenty  Feet  Below  the 

Surface,  Taken  from  the  Aeroplane,  Whose  Shadow 

Is  Shown  in  the  Picture 173 

German  Submarine  Pursuing  English  Merchantman  .  182 
British  Submarine,  Showing  One  Type  of  Disappearing 

Deck-gun  Now  in  Use 190 


THE  STORY  OF  THE 
SUBMARINE 


THE  STORY  OF  THE 
SUBMARINE 

CHAPTER  I 

. 

IN    THE    BEGINNING 

IF  you  had  been  in  London  in  the  year  1624,  and  had 
gone  to  the  theater  to  see  "  The  Staple  of  News/' 
a  new  and  very  dull  comedy  by  Shakespeare's  friend  Ben 
Jonson,  you  would  have  heard,  in  act  in,  scene  i,  the 

following  dialogue  about  submarines : 

- 

THOMAS 

They  write  hear  one  Cornelius'  son 
Hath  made  the  Hollanders  an  invisible  eel 
To  swim  the  haven  at  Dunkirk  and  sink  all 
The  shipping  there. 

PENNYBOY 
But  how  is  't  done  ? 

GRABAL 

I  '11  show  you,  sir, 
It  is  an  automa,  runs  under  water 
With  a  snug  nose,  and  has  a  nimble  tail 
Made  like  an  auger,  with  which  tail  she  wriggles 
Betwixt  the  costs  of  a  ship  and  sinks  it  straight. 

3 


4  The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

PENNYBOY 
Whence  have  you  this  news  ? 

FITTON 

From  a  right  hand  I  assure  you. 

The  eel-boats  here,  that  lie  before  Queen-hythe 

Came  out  of  Holland. 

PENNYBOY 

A  most  brave  device 
To  murder  their  flat  bottoms. 

The  idea  of  submarine  navigation  is  much  older  than 
1624.  Crude  diving  bells,  and  primitive  leather  diving 
helmets,  with  bladders  to  keep  the  upper  end  of  the  air 
tube  afloat  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  were  used  as  early 
as  the  fourteenth  century.  William  Bourne,  an  English- 
man who  published  a  book  on  "  Inventions  or  Devices  " 
in  1578,  suggested  the  military  value  of  a  boat  that  could 
be  sailed  just  below  the  surface  of  the  water,  with  a 
hollow  mast  for  a  ventilator.  John  Napier,  Laird  of 
Merchiston,  the  great  Scotch  mathematician  who  invented 
logarithms,  wrote  in  1596  about  his  proposed  "  Devices 
of  sailing  under  the  water,  with  divers  other  devices  and 
stratagems  for  the  burning  of  enemies." 

But  the  first  man  actually  to  build  and  navigate  a  sub- 
marine was  a  Dutchman:  the  learned  Doctor  Cornelius 
Van  Drebel.1  He  was  "  a  native  of  Alkmaar,  a  very 
fair  and  handsome  man,  and  of  very  gentle  manners." 
Both  his  pleasing  personality  and  his  knowledge  of  sci- 

!Also  spelled  Van  Drebbel,  Drebell,  Dreble,  and  Trebel.  He  is 
the  man  Ben  Jonson  calls  "  Cornelius'  son." 


In  the  Beginning  5 

ence  —  which  caused  many  to  suspect  him  of  being  a 
magician  —  made  the  Netherlander  an  honored  guest 
at  the  court  of  his  most  pedantic  Majesty,  King  James  I 
of  England. 

Van  Drebel  was 
walking  along  the 
banks  of  the 
Thames,  one  pleas- 
ant evening  in  the 
year  1620,  when  he 
"  noticed  some  sail- 
ors dragging  behind 
their  barques  baskets 
full  of  fish;  he  saw 
that  the  barques  were 
weighed  down  in  the 
water,  but  that  they 
rose  a  little  when  the 
baskets  allowed  the 
ropes  which  held 
them  to  slacken  a 
little.  The  idea  oc- 
curred to  him  that  a 
ship  could  be  held 
under  water  by  a 
somewhat  similar  method  and  could  be  propelled  by  oars 
and  poles."  2 

Lodged  by  the  king  in  Eltham  Palace,  and  supplied 
with  funds  from  the  royal  treasury,  Van  Drebel  designed 
and  built  three  submarine  boats,  between  1620  and  1624. 

2  Harsdoffer. 


Cornelius  Van  Drebel. 


Reproduced      from      "  Submarine      Navigation, 
"    by    Alan    H.    Burgoyne, 
by   permission  of  E.   P.   Button  &  Company. 


leprod 
Past 


and    Present  ' 


6  The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

They  were  simply  large  wooden  rowboats,  decked  over 
and  made  water-tight  by  a  covering  of  thick,  well- 
greased  leather.  Harsdoffer,  a  chronicler  of  the  period, 
declared  that 

"  King  James  himself  journeyed  in  one  of  them  on 
the  Thames.  There  were  on  this  occasion  twelve  rowers 
besides  the  passengers,  and  the  vessel  during  several 
hours  was  kept  at  a  depth  of  twelve  to  fifteen  feet  below 
the  surface." 

Another  contemporary  historian,  Cornelius  Van  der 
Wonde,  of  Van  Drebel's  home  town,  said  of  him: 

"  He  built  a  ship  in  which  one  could  row  and  navigate 
under  water  from  Westminster  to  Greenwich,  the  distance 
of  two  Dutch  miles;  even  five  or  six  miles  or  as  far  as 
one  pleased.  In  this  boat  a  person  could  see  under  the 
surface  of  the  water  and  without  candle-light,  as  much 
as  he  needed  to  read  in  the  Bible  or  any  other  book.  Not 
long  ago  this  remarkable  ship  was  yet  to  be  seen  lying  in 
the  Thames  or  London  river/' 

The  glow  of  phosphorescent  bodies,  suggested  by  the 
monk  Mersenne  for  illuminating  the  interior  of  a  sub- 
marine, later  in  the  seventeenth  century  and  actually  so 
used  by  Bushnell  in  the  eighteenth,  might  have  furnished 
sufficient  light  for  Bible-  and  compass-reading  on  this 
voyage.  But  how  did  King  James  —  the  first  and  last 
monarch  to  venture  on  an  underwater  voyage  —  the  other 
passengers,  and  the  twelve  rowers  get  enough  air? 

"  That  deservedly  Famous  Mechanician  and  Chymist, 
Cornelius  Drebell  .  .  .  conceived,  that  't  is  not  only  the 
whole  body  of  the  air  but  a  certain  Quintessence  (as 
Chymists  speake)  or  spirituous  part  that  makes  it  fit  for 


In  the  Beginning  7 

respiration  ...  so  that  (for  aught  I  could  gather)  be- 
sides the  Mechanicall  contrivance  of  his  vessel  he  had  a 
Chymicall  liquor,  which  he  accounted  the  chief  secret 
of  his  Submarine  Navigation.  For  when  from  time  to 
time  he  perceived  that  the  finer  and  purer  part  of  the  air 
was  consumed  or  over-clogged  by  the  respiration  and 
steames  of  those  that  went  in  his  ship,  he  would,  by 
unstopping  a  vessel  full  of  liquor  speedily  restore  to  the 
troubled  air  such  a  proportion  of  vital  parts  as  would 
make  it  again  for  a  good  while  fit  for  Respiration."  3 

Did  Van  Drebel  anticipate  by  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  the  discovery  of  oxygen:  the  life-giving  "  Quintes- 
sence "  of  air?  Even  if  he  did,  it  is  incredible  that  he 
should  have  found  a  liquid,  utterly  unknown  to  modern 
chemistry,  capable  of  giving  off  that  gas  so  freely  that 
a  few  gallons  would  restore  the  oxygen  to  a  confined  body 
of  air  as  fast  as  fifteen  or  twenty  men  could  consume  it 
by  breathing.  Perhaps  his  "  Chymicall  liquor  "  instead 
of  producing  oxygen  directly,  increased  the  proportion 
of  it  in  the  atmosphere  by  absorbing  the  carbonic  acid 
gas. 

The  Abbe  de  Haute feullie,  who  wrote  in  1680  on 
"  Methods  of  breathing  under  water,"  made  the  follow- 
ing shrewd  guess  at  the  nature  of  the  apparatus : 

"  Drebel's  secret  was  probably  the  machine  which  I 
had  imagined,  consisting  of  a  bellows  with  two  valves 
and  two  tubes  resting  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  the  one 
bringing  down  air  and  the  other  sending  it  back.  By 
speaking  of  a  volatile  essence  which  restored  the  nitrous 

3  "  New  Experiments  touching  the  Spring  of  the  Air  and  its  Ef- 
fects," by  Robert  Boyle,  Oxford,  1662,  p.   188. 


8 


The  Story  of  the  Submarine 


parts  consumed  by  respiration,  Drebel  evidently  wished 
to  disguise  his  invention  and  prevent  others  from  finding 
out  its  real  nature.7' 

It  is  a  very  great  pity  that  we  know  no  more  about 
these  earliest  submarines.  Cornelius  Van  Drebel  died 
in  1634,  at  the  age  of  sixty-two,  without  leaving  any 
written  notes  or  oral  descriptions.  We  must  not  think 
too  hardly  of  this  inventor  of  three  centuries  ago,  un- 
guarded by  patent  laws,  for  making  a  mystery  of  his 


Courtesy  of  the  Scientific  American, 

The  Rotterdam  Boat. 


discoveries.  He  had  to  be  a  showman  as  well  as  a  scien- 
tist, or  his  noble  patrons  would  have  lost  all  interest  in 
his  "  ingenious  machines,"  and  mystery  is  half  of  the 
showman's  game.  Besides  his  "  eel-boats/'  Van  Drebel 
is  said  to  have  invented  a  wonderful  globe  with  which 
he  imitated  perpetual  motion  and  illustrated  the  course 
of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars ;  an  incubator,  a  refrigerator, 
"  Virginals  that  played  of  themselves/'  and  other  marvels 
too  numerous  to  mention.  Half  scientist,  half  charlatan, 


In  the  Beginning  9 

wholly  medieval  in  appearance,  with  his  long  furred  gown 
and  long,  fair  beard,  Cornelius  Van  Drebel  marches  pic- 
turesquely at  the  head  of  the  procession  of  inventors  who 
have  made  possible  the  modern  submarine. 

Eighteen  years  after  Van  Drebel's  death,  a  Frenchman 
named  Le  Son  built  a  submarine  at  Rotterdam.  This 
craft,  which  is  usually  referred  to  as  the  Rotterdam 
Boat,  was  72  feet  long,  12  feet  high,  and  of  8  foot  beam. 
It  was  built  of  wood,  with  sharply  tapering  ends,  and  had 
a  superstructure  whose  sloping  sides  were  designed  to 
deflect  cannon  balls  that  might  be  fired  at  the  boat  while 
traveling  on  the  surface,  while  iron-shod  legs  protected 
the  hull  when  resting  on  the  sea  bottom.  A  single  paddle- 
wheel  amidships  was  to  propel  the  boat, —  just  how,  the 
inventor  never  revealed.  Like  so  many  other  sub- 
marines, the  Rotterdam  Boat  was  built  primarily  to  be 
used  against  the  British  fleet.  But  it  failed  to  interest 
either  the  Dutch  or  French  minister  of  marine,  and  never 
went  into  action. 

The  earliest  known  contemporary  picture  of  a  sub- 
marine vessel  appeared  in  the  "  Gentleman's  Magazine/' 
in  1747.  It  showed  a  cross  section  of  an  underwater 
boat  built  and  navigated  on  the  Thames  by  one  Symons. 
This  was  a  decked-over  row-boat,  propelled  by  four  pairs 
of  oars  working  in  water-tight  joints  of  greased  leather. 
To  submerge  his  vessel,  Symons  admitted  water  into  a 
number  of  large  leather  bottles,  placed  inside  the  hull 
with  their  open  mouth  passing  through  holes  in  the  bot- 
tom. When  he  wished  to  rise,  he  would  squeeze  out 
the  water  with  a  lever  and  bind  up  the  neck  of  each 
emptied  bottle  with  string.  This  ingenious  device  was 


1O          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

not  original  with  Mr.  Symons,  but  was  invented  by  a 
Frenchman  named  Borelli  in  1680. 

Submarine  navigation  was  a  century  and  a  half  old 
before  it  claimed  its  first  victim.  J.  Day,  an  English 
mechanic,  rebuilt  a  small  boat  so  that  he  was  able  to 
submerge  it  in  thirty  feet  of  water,  with  himself  on 
board,  and  remain  there  for  twenty-four  hours  with  no 
ill  effect.  At  the  end  of  this  time,  Day  rose  to  the  sur- 
face, absolutely  certain  of  his  ability  to  repeat  the  ex- 


Symons's  Submarine. 

periment  at  any  depth.     But  how  could  he  turn  this  to 
practical  account? 

It  was  an  age  of  betting,  when  gentlemen  could  always 
be  found  to  risk  money  on  any  wager,  however  fan- 
tastic. Day  found  a  financial  backer  in  a  Mr.  Blake,  who 
advanced  him  the  money  to  buy  a  fifty-ton  sloop  and 
fit  it  with  a  strong  water-tight  compartment  amidships. 
Ten  tons  of  ballast  were  placed  in  the  hold  and  twenty 
more  hung  outside  the  hull  by  four  iron  rods  passing 
through  the  passenger's  compartment.  When  the  rest 


In  the  Beginning  ll 

of  the  boat  was  filled  with  water,  it  would  sink  to  the 
bottom,  to  rise  again  when  the  man  inside  released  the 
twenty  tons  of  outer  ballast. 

Shut  in  the  water-tight  compartment  of  this  boat,  Day 
sank  to  the  bottom  of  Plymouth  Harbor,  at  2  P.M.,  Tues- 
day, June  28,  1774,  to  decide  a  bet  that  he  could  remain 
twelve  hours  at  a  depth  of  twenty- two  fathoms  (132 
feet).  When,  at  the  expiration  of  this  time,  the  sub- 
marine failed  to  reappear,  Mr.  Blake  called  on  the  cap- 
tain of  a  near-by  frigate  for  help.  Bluejackets  from  the 
warship  and  workmen  from  the  dockyard  were  set  to 
work  immediately  to  grapple  for  the  sunken  craft  and 
raise  her  to  the  surface,  but  to  no  avail.  The  great 
pressure  of  water  at  that  depth —  150  feet  is  the  limit 
of  safety  for  many  modern  submarines  —  must  have 
crushed  in  the  walls  of  the  water-tight  compartment  with- 
out giving  Day  time  enough  to  release  the  outer  ballast 
and  rise  to  safety. 


CHAPTER  II 


IN  the  first  week  of  September,  1776,  the  American 
army  defending  New  York  still  held  Manhattan  Is- 
land, but  nothing  more.  Hastily  improvised,  badly 
equipped,  and  worse  disciplined,  it  had  been  easily  de- 
feated by  a  superior  invading  force  of  British  regulars 
and  German  mercenaries  in  the  battle  of  Long  Island. 
Brooklyn  had  fallen;  from  Montauk  Point  to  the  East 
River,  all  was  the  enemy's  country.  Staten  Island,  too, 
was  an  armed  and  hostile  land.  After  the  fall  of  the 
forts  on  both  sides  of  the  Narrows,  the  British  fleet 
had  entered  the  Upper  Bay,  and  even  landed  marines  and 
infantry  on  Governor's  Island.  Grimly  guarding  the 
crowded  transports,  the  ship-of-the-line  Asia  and  the 
frigate  Eagle  lay  a  little  above  Staten  Island,  with  their 
broadsides  trained  on  the  doomed  city. 

In  the  mouth  of  the  North  River,  not  a  biscuit-toss 
from  the  Battery,  floated  the  brass  conning-tower  of  an 
American  submarine. 

It  was  the  only  submarine  in  the  world  and  its  in- 
ventor called  it  the  Turtle.  He  called  it  that  because  it 
looked  like  one :  a  turtle  floating  with  its  tail  down  and 
a  conning-tower  for  a  head.  It  has  also  been  compared 
to  a  modern  soldier's  canteen  with  an  extra-large  mouth- 
piece, or  a  hardshell  clam  wearing  a  silk  hat.  It  was 

12 


David  Bushnell's  "  Turtle  " 


deeper  than  it  was  long  and  not  much  longer  than  it 
^as  broad.     It  had  no  periscope,  torpedo  tubes,  or  cage 
of  white  mice.     But  the  Turtle  was  a  submarine,  for  all 
that. 

Its  inventor  was  a  Connecticut  Yankee,   Mr.  David 
Bushnell,  later  Captain 
Bushnell   of   the   corps 
of  sappers  and  miners 
and  in  the  opinion  of 
his  Excellency  General 
Washington    "  a    man 
of     great     mechanical 
powers,    fertile    in    in- 
vention and  master  of 
execution."       Bushnell 
was  born  in  Saybrook 
and  educated  at  Yale, 
where     he     graduated 
with  the  class  of  1775. 
During  his  four  years 
as    an    undergraduate, 
he   spent   most   of   his 
spare  time  solving  the 
problem    of    exploding 
gunpowder   under   wa- 
ter.    A  water-tight  case  would  keep  his  powder  dry,  but 
how  could  he  get  a  spark  inside  to  explode  it?     Percus- 
sion caps  had  not  yet  been  invented,  but  Bushnell  took  the 
flintlock  from  a  musket  and  had  it  snapped  by  clockwork 
that  could  be  wound  up  and  set  for  any  desired  length 
of  time. 


The  Submarine  of  17/6. 
(As   described   by    its   operator.) 


14          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

"  The  first  experiment  I  made,"  wrote  Bushnell  in  a 
letter  to  Thomas  Jefferson  when  the  latter  was  American 
minister  to  France  in  1789,  "was  with  about  2  ounces 
of  powder,  which  I  exploded  4  feet  under  water,  to  prove 
to  some  of  the  first  personages  in  Connecticut  that 
powder  would  take  fire  under  water. 

"  The  second  experiment  was  made  with  2  Ib.  of 
powder  enclosed  in  a  wooden  bottle  and  fixed  under  a 
hogshead,  with  a  2-inch  oak  plank  between  the  hogs- 
head and  the  powder.  The  hogshead  was  loaded  with 
stones  as  deep  as  it  could  swim ;  a  wooden  pipe,  descend- 
ing through  the  lower  head  of  the  hogshead  and  through 
the  plank  into  the  bottle,  was  primed  with  powder.  A 
match  put  to  the  priming  exploded  the  powder,  which 
produced  a  very  great  effect,  rending  the  plank  into 
pieces,  demolishing  the  hogshead,  and  casting  the  stones 
and  the  ruins  of  the  hogshead,  with  a  body  of  water, 
many  feet  into  the  air,  to  the  astonishment  of  the  spec- 
tators. This  experiment  was  likewise  made  for  the  sat- 
isfaction of  the  gentlemen  above  mentioned." 

Governor  Trumbull  of  Connecticut  was  among  the 
"  first  personages  "  present  at  these  experiments,  which 
so  impressed  him  and  his  council  that  they  appropriated 
enough  money  for  Bushnell  to  build  the  Turtle.  The 
Nutmeg  State  was  thus  the  first  "  world-power  "  to  have 
a  submarine  in  its  navy.1 

The  hull  of  the  Turtle  was  not  made  of  copper,  as  is 
sometimes  stated,  but  was  "  built  of  oak,  in  the  strongest 

1  The  only  submarine  built  before  this  for  military  purposes,  the 
Rotterdam  Bout,  remained  private  property,  and  King  James's  "  eel- 
boats  "  were  merely  pleasure  craft. 


David  Bushnell's  "  Turtle  "  15 

manner  possible,  corked  and  tarred."  2  The  conning- 
tower  was  of  brass  and  also  served  as  a  hatch-cover. 
The  hatchway  was  barely  big  enough  for  the  one  man 
who  made  up  the  entire  crew  to  squeeze  through.  Once 
inside,  the  operator  could  screw  the  cover  down  tight, 
and  look  out  through  "  three  round  doors,  one  directly 
in  front  and  one  on  each  side,  large  enough  to  put  the 
hand  through.  When  open  they  admitted  fresh  air." 
On  top  of  the  conning-tower  were  two  air-pipes  "  so  con- 
structed that  they  shut  themselves  whenever  the  water 
rose  near  their  tops,  so  that  no  water  could  enter  through 
them  and  opened  themselves  immediately  after  they  rose 
above  the  water. 

"  The  vessel  was  chiefly  ballasted  with  lead  fixed  to  its 
bottom;  when  this  was  not  sufficient  a  quantity  was 
placed  within,  more  or  less  according  to  the  weight  of 
the  operator;  its  ballast  made  it  so  stiff  that  there  was 
no  danger  of  oversetting.  The  vessel,  with  all  its  ap- 
pendages and  the  operator,  was  of  sufficient  weight  to  set- 
tle it  very  low  in  the  water.  About  200  Ib.  of  lead  at 
the  bottom  for  ballast  could  be  let  down  40  or  50  feet 
below  the  vessel;  this  enabled  the  operator  to  rise  in- 
stantly to  the  surface  of  the  water  in  case  of  accident." 

The  operator  sat  on  an  oaken  brace  that  kept  the  two 
sides  of  the  boat  from  being  crushed  in  by  the  water- 
pressure,  and  did  things  with  his  hands  and  feet.  He 
must  have  been  as  busy  as  a  cathedral  organist  on  Easter 
morning.  With  one  foot  he  opened  a  brass  valve  that  let 

2  Sergeant  Ezra  Lee's  letter  to  Gen.  David  Humphreys,  written  in 
1815.  Published  in  the  "  Magazine  of  American  History/'  Vol.  29, 
p.  261. 


16          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

water  into  the  ballast  tanks,  with  the  other  he  worked 
a  force  pump  to  drive  it  out.  When  he  had  reached  an 
approximate  equilibrium,  he  could  move  the  submarine 
up  or  down,  or  hold  it  at  any  desired  depth,  by  cranking 
a  small  vertical-acting  propeller  placed  just  forward  of 
the  conning-tower  on  the  deck  above.  Before  him  was 
the  crank  of  another  propellor,  or  rather  tractor,  for  it 
drew,  not  pushed,  the  vessel  forward.  Behind  him  was 
the  rudder,  which  the  operator  controlled  with  a  long 
curved  tiller  stuck  under  one  arm. 


The  Best-known  Picture  of  Bushnell's  Turtle. 

Drawn  by  Lieutenant  F.  M.  Barber,  U.  S.  N.,  in   1875. 

Bushnell,  in  his  letter  to  Jefferson,  calls  each  of  these 
propellors  "  an  oar,  formed  upon  the  principle  of  the 
screw/'  and  the  best-known  picture  of  the  Turtle  shows 
a  bearded  gentleman  in  nineteenth-century  clothes  boring 
his  way  through  the  water  with  two  big  gimlets.  But 
Sergeant  Ezra  Lee  of  the  Connecticut  Line,  who  did  the 
actual  operating,  described  the  submarine's  forward  pro- 
pellor (he  makes  no  mention  of  the  other)  as  having  two 
wooden  blades  or  "  oars,  of  about  12  inches  in  length 
and  4  or  5  in  width,  shaped  like  the  arms  of  a  windmill/' 


David  .Bushnell's  "  Turtle  "  17 

Except  in  size,  this  device  must  have  looked  very 
much  like  the  wooden-bladed  tractor  of  a  modern  aero- 
plane. 

"  These  oars/'  noted  Judge  Griswold  on  the  letter 
before  forwarding  it  to  General  Humphrey,  "  were  fixed 
on  the  end  of  a  shaft  like  windmill  arms  projected  out 
forward,  and  turned  at  right  angles  with  the  course  of 
the  machine ;  and  upon  the  same  principles  that  wind-mill 
arms  are  turned  by  the  wind,  these  oars,  when  put  in 
motion  as  the  writer  describes,  draw  the  machine  slowly 
after  it.  This  moving  power  is  small,  and  every  atten- 
dant circumstance  must  cooperate  with  it  to  answer  the 
purpose  —  calm  waters  and  no  current." 

"  With  hard  labor,"  said  Lee,  "  the  machine  might  be 
impelled  at  ihe  rate  of  '  3  nots '  an  hour  for  a  short 
time." 

Sergeant  Lee  volunteered  "  to  learn  the  ways  and  mys- 
tery of  this  new  machine  "  because  the  original  operator, 
Bushnell's  brother,  "  was  taken  sick  in  the  campaign  of 
1776  at  New  York  before  he  had  an  opportunity  to  make 
use  of  his  skill,  and  never  recovered  his  health  sufficiently 
afterwards."  While  Lee  was  still  struggling  with  the 
"  mystery  "  in  practice  trips  on  Long  Island  Sound,  the 
British  fleet  entered  New  York  Harbor.  The  submarine 
was  at  once  hurried  to  New  Rochelle,  carted  overland  to 
the  Hudson,  and  towed  down  to  the  city. 

At  slack  tide  on  the  first  calm  night  after  his  arrival, 
Lee  screwed  down  the  conning-tower  of  the  Turtle  above 
his  head  and  set  out  to  attack  the  British  fleet.4  Two 

4  "  General  Washington  and  his  associates  in  the  secret  took  their 
stations  upon  a  house  in  Broadway,  anxiously  awaiting  the  result." 


i8          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

whaleboats  towed  him  as  near  as  they  dared  and  then 
cast  off.  Running  awash,  with  not  more  than  six  or 
seven  inches  of  the  conning-tower  exposed,  the  submarine 
crept,  silent  and  unseen,  down  the  bay  and  up  under  the 
towering  stern  of  his  Britannic  Majesty's  64-gun  frigate 
Eagle. 

"  When  I  rowed  under  the  stern  of  the  ship/'  wrote 
Sergeant  Lee  in  after  years,  "  I  could  see  the  men  on 
deck  and  hear  them  talk.  I  then  shut  down  all  the 
doors,  sunk  down  and  came  under  the  bottom  of  the 
ship." 

Up  through  the  top  of  the  submarine  ran  a  long  sharp 
gimlet,  not  for  boring  a  hole  through  the  bottom  of  a 
ship,  but  to  be  screwed  into  the  wooden  hull  and  left  there, 
to  serve  as  an  anchor  for  a  mine.  Tied  to  the  screw  and 
carried  on  the  after-deck  of  the  Turtle  was  an  egg-shaped 
"  magazine,"  made  of  two  hollowed-out  pieces  of  oak 
and  containing  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  of  gun- 
powder, with  a  clockwork  time-fuse  that  would  begin 
to  run  as  soon  as  the  operator  cast  off  the  magazine  after 
making  fast  the  screw.  Everything  seemed  ready  for 
Sergeant  Lee  to  anticipate  Lieutenant  Commander  Von 
Weddigen  by  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  years. 

But  no  matter  how  hard  the  strong-wristed  sergeant 
turned  the  handle,  he  could  not  drive  the  screw  into  the 
frigate's  hull.  The  Eagle  was  copper-sheathed!5 

"  I  pulled  along  to  try  another  place,"  said  Lee,  "  but 
deviated  a  little  to  one  side  and  immediately  rose  with 

From  Ezra  Lee's  obituary,  New  York  "  Commercial  Advertiser," 
November  15,  1821. 

5  According  to  Bushnell,  the  screw  struck  an  iron  bar  securing  the 
rudder. 


David  Bushnell's  "  Turtle  "  19 

great  velocity  and  came  above  the  surface  2  or  3  feet, 
between  the  ship  and  the  daylight,  then  sunk  again  like 
a  porpoise.  I  hove  about  to  try  again,  but  on  further 
thought  I  gave  out,  knowing  that  as  soon  as  it  was  light 
the  ships'  boats  would  be  rowing  in  all  directions,  and  I 
thought  the  best  generalship  was  to  retreat  as  fast  as  I 
could,  as  I  had  4  miles  to  go  before  passing  Governor's 
Island.  So  I  jogg'd  on  as  fast  as  I  could." 

To  enable  him  to  steer  a  course  when  submerged,  Lee 


Another  Idea  of  Bushnell's  Turtle. 


had  before  him  a  compass,  most  ingeniously  illuminated 
with  phosphorescent  pieces  of  rotten  wood.  But  for 
some  reason  this  proved  to  be  of  no  use. 

"  I  was  obliged  to  rise  up  every  few  minutes  to  see 
that  I  sailed  in  the  right  direction,  and  for  this  purpose 
keeping  the  machine  on  the  surface  of  the  water  and  the 
doors  open.  I  was  much  afraid  of  getting  aground  on 
the  island,  as  the  tide  of  the  flood  set  on  the  north  point. 

"  While  on  my  passage  up  to  the  city,  my  course,  owing 
to  the  above  circumstances,  was  very  crooked  and  zig- 


20          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

zag,  and  the  enemy's  attention  was  drawn  towards  me 
from  Governor's  Island.  When  I  was  abreast  of  the 
fort  on  the  island,  3  or  400  men  got  upon  the  parapet  to 
observe  me ;  at  length  a  number  came  down  to  the  shore, 
shoved  off  a  12  oar'd  barge  with  5  or  6  sitters  and  pulled 
for  me.  I  eyed  them,  and  when  they  had  got  within  50 
or  60  yards  of  me  I  let  loose  the  magazine  in  hopes  that 
if  they  should  take  me  they  would  likewise  pick  up  the 
magazine,  and  then  we  should  all  be  blown  up  together. 
But  as  kind  Providence  would  have  it,  they  took  fright 
and  returned  to  the  island  to  my  infinite  joy.  I  then 
weathered  the  island,  and  our  people  seeing  me,  came  off 
with  a  whaleboat  and  towed  me  in.  The  magazine,  after 
getting  a  little  past  the  island,  went  off  with  a  tremendous 
explosion,  throwing  up  large  bodies  of  water  to  an  im- 
mense height." 

A  few  days  afterwards,  the  British  forces  landed  on 
Manhattan  Island  at  what  is  now  the  foot  of  East  Thirty- 
fourth  Street,  and  Washington's  army  hastily  withdrew 
to  the  Harlem  Heights,  above  One  Hundred  and  Twenty- 
fifth  Street.  A  British  frigate  sailed  up  the  Hudson  and 
anchored  off  Bloomingdale,  or  between  Seventy-second 
and  One  Hundred  and  Tenth  Streets,  in  the  same  waters 
where  our  Atlantic  fleet  lies  whenever  it  comes  to  town. 
Here  Sergeant  Lee  in  the  Turtle  made  two  more  attempts. 
But  the  first  time  he  was  discovered  by  the  watch,  and 
when  he  approached*  again,  submerged,  the  phosphorus- 
painted  cork  that  served  as  an  indicator  in  his  crude  but 
ingenious  depth-gage,  got  caught  and  deceived  him  so 
that  he  dived  completely  under  the  warship  without  touch- 
ing her.  Shortly  after  this,  the  frigate  came  up  the  river, 


Ezra  Lee. 

Born  at  Lyme,  Conn.,  Jan.  21,  1749, 
Died  at  Lyme,  Conn.,  Oct.  29,   1821. 

From   original   painting  in   possession  of   his  descendant,   Mrs.   Daniel 
Whitney,   5117   Pulaski  Avenue,  Germantown,  Pa. 


21 


22          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

overhauled  the  sloop  on  which  the  Turtle  was  being  trans- 
ported, and  sent  it  to  the  bottom,  submarine  and  all. 

"  Though  I  afterwards  recovered  the  vessel/'  Bushnell 
wrote  to  Jefferson,  "  I  found  it  impossible  at  that  time 
to  prosecute  the  design  any  further.  I  had  been  in  a  bad 
state  of  health  from  the  beginning  of  my  undertaking, 
and  was  now  very  unwell;  the  situation  of  public  affairs 
was  such  that  I  despaired  of  obtaining  the  public  atten- 
tion and  the  assistance  necessary.  I  was  unable  to  sup- 
port myself  and  the  persons  I  must  have  employed  had  I 
proceeded.  Besides,  I  found  it  absolutely  necessary  that 
the  operators  should  acquire  more  skill  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  vessel  before  I  could  expect  success,  which 
would  have  taken  up  some  time,  and  no  small  additional 
expense.  I  therefore  gave  over  the  pursuit  for  that  time 
and  waited  for  a  more  favorable  opportunity,  which  never 
arrived. 

"  In  the  year  1777  I  made  an  attempt  from  a  whale- 
boat  against  the  Cerberus  frigate,  then  lying  at  anchor 
between  Connecticut  River  and  New  London,  by  drawing 
a  machine  against  her  side  by  means  of  a  line.  The  ma- 
chine was  loaded  with  powder,  to  be  exploded  by  a  gun- 
lock,  which  was  to  be  unpinioned  by  an  apparatus  to  be 
turned  by  being  brought  alongside  of  the  frigate.  This 
machine  fell  in  with  a  schooner  at  anchor  astern  of  the 
frigate,  and  concealed  from  my  sight.  By  some  means 
or  other  it  was  fired,  and  demolished  the  schooner  and 
three  men,  and  blew  the  only  one  left  alive  overboard, 
who  was  taken  up  very  much  hurt.6 

6  This  survivor  was  examined  by  the  captain  of  the  Cerberus,  who 


David  Bushnell's  "  Turtle  "  23 

"  After  this  I  fixed  several  kegs  under  water,  charged 
with  powder,  to  explode  upon  touching  anything  as  they 
floated  along  with  the  tide.  I  set  them  afloat  in  the 
Delaware,  above  the  English  shipping  at  Philadelphia,  in 
December,  1777.  I  was  unacquainted  with  the  river,  and 
obliged  to  depend  upon  a  gentleman  very  imperfectly 
acquainted  with  that  part  of  it,  as  I  afterwards  found. 
We  went  as  near  the  shipping  as  we  durst  venture ;  I  be- 
lieve the  darkness  of  the  night  greatly  deceived  him,  as 
it  did  me.  We  set  them  adrift  to  fall  with  the  ebb  upon 
the  shipping.  Had  we  been  within  sixty  rods  I  believe 
they  must  have  fallen  in  with  them  immediately,  as  I 
designed;  but,  as  I  afterwards  found,  they  were  set  adrift 
much  too  far  distant,  and  did  not  arrive  until,  after  being 
detained  some  time  by  frost,  they  advanced  in  the  day- 
time in  a  dispersed  situation  and  under  great  disadvan- 
tages. One  of  them  blew  up  a  boat  with  several  persons 
in  it  who  imprudently  handled  it  too  freely,  and  thus  gave 
the  British  the  alarm  which  brought  on  the  battle  of  the 
kegs." 

The  agitated  redcoats  lined  the  banks  and  blazed  away 
at  every  bit  of  drifting  wreckage  in  the  river,  as  de- 
scribed by  a  sarcastic  Revolutionary  poet  in  "  The  Battle 
of  the  Kegs." 

Gallants  attend,  and  hear  a  friend 
Troll  forth  harmonious  ditty, 
Strange  things  I  '11  tell  that  once  befell 
In  Philadelphia  city. 

reported  that  the  schooner's  crew  had  drawn  the  machine  on  board 
and  by  rashly  tampering  with  its  mechanism  caused  it  to  explode. 


24          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

'Twas  early  day,  as  poets  say, 
Just  as  the  sun  was  rising, 
A  soldier  stood  on  a  log  of  wood 
And  saw  a  thing  surprising. 

As  in  amaze  he  stood  to  gaze, 
The  truth  can't  be  denied,  sir, 
He  spied  a  score  of  kegs  or  more 
Come  floating  down  the  tide,  sir. 

These  kegs,  I'm  told,  the  rebels  hold 
Packed  up  like  pickled  herring, 
And  they  're  coming  down  to  attack  the  town, 
In  this  new  way  of  ferrying. 

Therefore  prepare  for  bloody  war, 
The  kegs  must  all  be  routed, 
Or  surely  we  despised  shall  be 
And  British  valor  doubted. 

The  royal  band  now  ready  stand 
All  ranged  in  dread  array,  sir, 
With  stomach  stout  to  see  it  out 
And  make  a  bloody  day,  sir. 

The  cannon  roar  from  shore  to  shore, 
The  small  arms  make  a  rattle, 
Since  wars  began,  I  'm  sure  no  man 
E'er   saw  so  strange  a  battle. 

The  kegs,  't  is  said,  though  strongly  made, 
Of  rebel  staves  and  hoops,  sir, 
Could  not  oppose  their  powerful  foes, 
The  conquering  British  troops,  sir. 

David  Bushnell  was  later  captured  by  the  British,  who 
failed  to  recognize  him  and  soon  released  him  as  a  harm- 


David  Bushnell's  "  Turtle  "  25 

less  civilian.  After  the  Revolution  he  went  to  France, 
and  then  to  Georgia,  where  disgusted  with  the  Govern- 
ment's neglect  of  himself  and  his  invention  he  changed 
his  name  to  "  Dr.  Bush."  He  was  eighty-four  years  old 
when  he  died  in  1826.  His  identity  was  then  revealed 
in  his  will. 

Bushnell  found  the  submarine  boat  a  useless  plaything 
and  made  it  a  formidable  weapon.  To  him  it  owes  the 
propeller,  the  conning-tower,  and  the  first  suggestion  of 
the  torpedo.  The  Turtle  was  not  only  the  first  Ameri- 
can submarine  but  the  forerunner  of  the  undersea  de- 
stroyer of  to-day. 

"  I  thought  and  still  think  that  it  was  an  effort  of 
genius,"  declared  George  Washington  to  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son, "  but  that  too  many  things  were  necessary  to  be 
combined  to  expect  much  against  an  enemy  who  are  al- 
ways on  guard." 


CHAPTER  III 


ROBERT  FULTON  was  probably  the  first  American 
who  ever  went  to  Paris  for  the  purpose  of  selling 
war-supplies  to  the  French  government.  Unlike  his  com- 
patriots of  to-day,  he  found  anything  but  a  ready  market. 
For  three  years,  beginning  in  1797,  Fulton  tried  con- 
stantly but  vainly  to  interest  the  Directory  in  his  plans 
for  a  submarine.  Though  a  commission  appointed  to 
examine  his  designs  reported  favorably,  the  minister  of 
marine  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  them.  Fulton 
built  a  beautiful  little  model  submarine  of  mahogany  and 
exhibited  it,  but  with  no  results.  He  made  an  equally 
fruitless  attempt  to  sell  his  invention  to  Holland,  then 
called  the  Batavian  Republic.  Nobody  seemed  to  have 
the  slightest  belief  or  interest  in  submarines. 

But  Fulton  was  a  persistent  man  or  he  would  never 
have  got  his  name  into  the  history  books.  He  stayed  in 
Paris,  where  his  friend  Joel  Barlow  was  American  min- 
ister, and  supported  himself  by  inventing  and  exhibiting 
what  he  called  "  the  pictures  " :  the  first  moving  pictures 
the  world  had  ever  seen.  These  were  panoramas,  where 
the  picture  was  not  thrown  on  the  screen  by  a  lantern  but 
painted  on  it,  and  the  long  roll  of  painted  canvas  was 
unrolled  like  a  film  between  two  large  spools  on  opposite 

26 


Robert  Fulton's  "Nautilus"          27 

sides  of  the  stage.  Very  few  people  remember  that 
Robert  Fulton  invented  the  panorama,  though  only  a 
generation  ago  the  great  panorama  of  the  battle  of 
Gettysburg  drew  and  thrilled  as  large  audiences  as  a 
film  like  "  The  Birth  of  a  Nation  "  does  to-day.  Fulton 
painted  his  own  panoramas  himself,  for  he  was  an  artist 
before  he  was  an  engineer.  He  made  three  of  them  and 
had  to  build  a  separate  little  theater  to  show  each  one  in. 
The  Parisians  were  so  well  pleased  with  this  novelty  that 
they  made  up  a  song  about  the  panoramas,  and  the  street 
where  the  most  popular  of  the  three  was  shown  is  still 
called  "  La  Rue  Fulton."  The  picture  that  won  the  in- 
ventor this  honor  was  a  panorama  of  the  burning  of 
Moscow  —  not  the  burning  of  the  city  to  drive  out  Na- 
poleon, for  that  came  a  dozen  years  later,  but  an  earlier 
conflagration,  some  time  in  the  eighteenth  century. 

Napoleon  overthrew  the  Directory  and  became  First 
Consul  and  absolute  ruler  of  France  in  1800.  He  ap- 
pointed three  expert  naval  engineers  to  examine  Fulton's 
plans,  and  on  their  approval,  Napoleon  advanced  him 
10,000  francs  to  build  a  submarine. 
.'v  Construction  was  begun  at  once  and  the  boat  was  fin- 
ished in  May,  1801.  She  was  a  remarkably  modern- 
looking  craft,  and  a  great  improvement  on  everything 
that  had  gone  before.  She  was  the  first  submarine  to 
have  a  fish-shaped,  metal  hull.  It  was  built  of  copper 
plating  on  iron  ribs,  and  was  21  feet  3  inches  long  and 
6  feet  5  inches  in  diameter  at  the  thickest  point,  which 
was  well  forward.  A  heavy  keel  gave  stability  and  im- 
mediately above  it  were  the  water-ballast  tanks  for  sub- 
merging the  vessel.  Two  men  propelled  the  boat  when 


28          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

beneath  the  surface  by  turning  a  hand-winch  geared  to 
the  shaft  of  a  two-bladed,  metal  propellor.  (Fulton 
called  the  propellor  a  "  fly/7  and  got  the  idea  of  it  from 
the  little  windmill-shaped  device  placed  in  the  throat  of 
an  old-fashioned  fireplace  to  be  revolved  by  the  hot  air 
passing  up  the  chimney  and  used  to  turn  the  roasting- 


The  Nautilus,  Invented  by  Robert  Fulton. 

A-B,  Hull;  C-D,  Keel;  E-E,  Pumps;  F,  Conning  Tower;  G,  Bulkhead;  H,  Pro- 
pellor; I,  Vertical  Rudder;  L,  Horizontal  Rudder  (diving-plane);  M~, 
Pivot  attaching  horizontal  to  vertical  rudder;  N,  Gear  controlling  horizontal 
rudder;  O,  "Horn  of  the  Nautilus-"  P,  Torpedo;  Q,  Hull  of  vessel  at- 
tacked; X,  Anchor;  Y,  Mast  and  sail  for  use  on  surface. 

spit  in  many  a  French  kitchen  for  centuries  past.)  The 
third  member  of  the  crew  stood  in  the  dome-shaped  con- 
ning-tower  and  steered,  while  Fulton  himself  controlled 
the  pumps,  valves,  and  the  diving-planes  or  horizontal 
rudders  that  steered  the  submarine  up  and  down.  In- 
stead of  forcing  his  boat  under  with  a  vertical-acting 
screw,  like  Bushnell and Nordenf elt  (seepages  i6and62), 


Robert  Fulton's  "  Nautilus  "          29 

Fulton,  like  Holland,  made  her  dive  bow-foremost  by  de- 
pressing her  nose  with  the  diving-planes  and  shoving  her 
under  by  driving  her  ahead.  Fulton  was  also  the  first 
to  give  a  submarine  separate  means  of  propulsion  for 
above  and  below  the  surface.  Just  as  a  modern  under- 
sea boat  uses  oil-engines  whenever  it  can  and  saves  its 
storage  batteries  for  use  when  submerged,  Fulton  spared 
the  strength  of  his  screw  by  rigging  the  Nautilus  with 
a  mast  and  sail.  By  pulling  a  rope  from  inside  the 
vessel,  the  sail  could  be  shut  up  like  a  fan,  and  the 
hinged  mast  lowered  and  stowed  away  in  a  groove  on 
deck.  Later  a  jib  was  added  to  the  mainsail,  and  the 
two  combined  gave  the  Nautilus  a  surface  speed  of  two 
knots  an  hour.  She  is  the  only  submarine  on  record 
that  could  go  faster  below  the  water  than  above  it,  for 
her  two-man-power  propeller  bettered  this  by  half  a  knot. 

Her  method  of  attack  was  the  same  as  the  Turtle's. 
Up  through  the  top  of  the  conning-tower  projected  what 
Fulton  called  the  "  Horn  of  the  Nautilus."  This  was 
an  eyeleted  spike,  to  be  driven  into  the  bottom  of  a  hostile 
ship  and  left  there.  From  a  windlass  carried  in  a  water- 
tight forward  compartment  of  the  submarine,  a  thin, 
strong  tow-rope  ran  through  the  eyehole  in  the  spike  to 
the  trigger  of  a  flintlock  inside  a  copper  case  nearly  full 
of  gunpowder,  which  was  not  carried  on  deck,  as  on  the 
Turtle,  but  towed  some  distance  astern.  As  soon  as  this 
powder-case  came  to  a  full  stop  against  the  spike,  the 
tow-rope  would  pull  the  trigger. 

Robert  Fulton  felt  the  lack  of  a  distinctive  name  for 
such  an  under-water  charge  of  explosives,  till  he  thought 
of  its  likeness  to  the  electric  ray,  that  storage  battery 


30          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

of  a  fish  that  gives  a  most  unpleasant  shock  to  any  one 
touching  it.  So  he  took  the  first  half  of  this  creature's 
scientific  name:  Torpedo  electricus.  Fulton  had  a  knack 
for  picking  good  names.  He  called  his  submarine  the 
Nautilus  because  it  had  a  sail  which  it  opened  and  folded 
away  even  as  the  beautiful  shellfish  of  that  name  was 
supposed  to  furl  and  unfurl  its  large,  sail-like  membrane. 

On  her  first  trial  on  the  Seine  at  Paris,  in  May,  1801, 
the  Nautilus  remained  submerged  for  twenty  minutes 
with  Fulton  and  one  other  man  on  board,  and  a  lighted 
candle  for  them  to  navigate  by.  This  consumed  too 
much  air,  however,  so  a  small  glass  window  was  placed 
in  the  conning-tower,  and  gave  light  enough  instead. 
Four  men  were  then  able  to  remain  under  for  an  hour. 
After  that,  Fulton  made  the  first  compressed-air  tank, 
a  copper  globe  containing  a  cubic  foot  of  compressed 
air,  by  drawing-  on  which  the  submarine's  crew  could 
stay  under  for  six  hours.  This  was  in  the  harbor  of 
Brest,  where  the  Nautilus  had  been  taken  overland.  A 
trial  attack  was  made  on  an  old  bulk,  which  was  success- 
fully blown  up.  The  submarine  also  proved  its  ability 
either  to  furl  its  sails  and  dive  quickly  out  of  sight,  or  to 
cruise  for  a  considerable  distance  on  the  surface.  Once 
it  sailed  for  seventy  miles  down  the  English  Channel. 

Fulton  had  planned  a  submarine  campaign  for  scaring 
the  British  navy  and  merchant  marine  out  of  the  narrow 
seas  and  so  bringing  Great  Britain  to  her  knees,  more 
than  a  century  before  the  German  emperor  proclaimed 
his  famous  "  war  zone "  around  the  British  Isles.  In 
one  of  his  letters  to  the  Directory,  the  American  in- 
ventor declared  that: 


Robert  Fulton's  "Nautilus"          31 

"  The  enormous  commerce  of  England,  no  less  than  its 
monstrous  Government,  depends  upon  its  military  marine. 
Should  some  vessels  of  war  be  destroyed  by  means  so 
novel,  so  hidden,  and  so  incalculable,  the  confidence  of 
the  seamen  will  vanish  and  the  fleet  will  be  rendered  use- 
less from  the  moment  of  the  first  terror/' 

To  a  friend  in  America,  Fulton  wrote  from  Paris  on 
November  20,  1798: 

"  I  would  ask  any  one  if  all  the  American  difficulties 
during  this  war  are  not  owing  to  the  naval  systems  of 
Europe  and  a  licensed  robbery  on  the  ocean  ?  How  then 
is  America  to  prevent  this  ?  Certainly  not  by  attempting 
to  build  a  fleet  to  cope  with  the  fleets  of  Europe,  but  if 
possible  by  rendering  the  European  fleets  useless." 

Fulton  began  his  campaign  by  an  attack  on -two  brigs, 
the  nearest  vessels  of  the  English  blockading  fleet.  But 
whenever  the  Nautilus  left  port  for  this  purpose,  both 
brigs  promptly  stood  out  to  sea  and  remained  there  till 
the  submarine  went  home.  Unknown  to  Fulton,  his  ac- 
tions were  being*  closely  watched  by  the  English  secret 
service,  whose  spies  were  always  able  to  send  a  timely 
warning  to  the  British  fleet.  During  the  day  time,  when 
the  Nautilus  was  about,  the  warships  were  kept  under  full 
sail,  with  lookouts  in  the  crosstrees  watching  with  tele- 
scopes for  the  first  glimpse  of  its  sail  or  conning-tower. 
At  night,  the  frigates  and  ships-of-the-line  were  guarded 
by  picket-boats  rowing  round  and  round  them,  just  as 
modern  dreadnoughts  are  guarded  by  destroyers. 

Disappointed  by  the  lack  of  results,  the  French  naval 
authorities  refused  either  to  let  Fulton  build  a  larger 
and  more  efficient  submarine,  or  to  grant  commissions  in 


32          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

the  navy  to  him  and  his  crew.  He  wanted  some  assur- 
ance that  in  case  they  were  captured  they  would  not  be 
hanged  by  the  British,  who  then  as  now  denounced  sub- 
marine warfare  by  others  as  little  better  than  piracy.  To 
guarantee  their  own  safety,  Fulton  proposed  that  the 
French  government  threaten  to  retaliate  by  hanging  an 
equal  number  of  English  prisoners,  but  it  was  pointed  out 
to  him  that  this  would  only  lead  to  further  executions 
by  the  British,  who  had  many  more  French  prisoners  of 
war  than  there  were  captive  Englishmen  in  France. 

Napoleon  had  lost  faith  in  the  submarine,  nor  could 
Fulton  interest  him  in  a  steamboat  which  he  now  built 
and  operated  on  the  Seine,  till  it  was  sunk  by  the  weight 
of  the  machinery  breaking  the  hull  in  two.  So  Fulton 
quit  France  and  crossed  over  to  England,  where  Mr. 
Pitt,  the  prime  minister,  was  very  much  interested  in  his 
inventions. 

Fulton  succeeded  in  planting  one  of  his  torpedoes  under 
an  old  empty  Danish  brig,  the  Dorothea,  in  Deal  Harbor, 
in  front  of  Walmer  Castle,  Pitt's  own  residence,  on  Oc- 
tober 15,  1805.  The  prime  minister  had  had  to  hurry 
back  to  London,  but  there  were  many  naval  officers 
present,  and  one  of  them  declared  loudly  that  he  would 
be  quite  unconcerned  if  he  were  sitting  at  dinner  at  that 
moment  in  the  cabin  of  the  Dorothea.  Ten  minutes  later 
the  clockwork  ran  out  and  the  torpedo  exploded,  break- 
ing the  brig  in  two  amidships  and  hurling  the  frag- 
ments high  in  the  air.  The  success  of  this  experiment 
was  not  entirely  pleasing  to  the  heads  of  the  British  navy. 
Their  opinion  was  voiced  by  Admiral  Lord  St.  Vincent, 
who  declared  that: 


Robert  Fulton's  "  Nautilus  " 


33 


"  Pitt  was  the  greatest  fool  that  ever  existed,  to  en- 
courage a  mode  of  war  which  they  who  command  the 
seas  did  not  want  and  which  if  successful  would  deprive 
them  of  it." 

Six  days  after  the  destruction  of  the  Dorothea,  the  sea- 


Destruction  of  the  Dorothea. 

From   a   woodcut   by    Robert   Fulton. 

power  of  France  was  broken  by  Nelson  at  the  battle 
of  Trafalgar.  Napoleon  now  gave  up  all  hope  of  gain- 
ing the  few  hours'  control  of  the  Channel  that  would 
have  enabled  him  to  invade  England,  and  broke  up  the 
camp  of  his  Grand  Army  that  had  waited  so  long  at 


34          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

Boulogne.  With  this  danger  gone,  England  was  no 
longer  interested  in  submarines  and  torpedoes.  So  Ful- 
ton returned  to  America,  to  build  the  Clairmont  and  win 
his  place  in  history.  But  to  him,  steam  navigation  was 
far  less  important  than  submarine  warfare.  In  the  letter 
to  his  old  friend  Joel  Barlow,  dated  New  York,  August 
22,  1807,  in  which  he  described  the  first  voyage  of  the 
Clairmont  up  the  Hudson,  Fulton  said : 

"  However,  I  will  not  admit  that  it  is  half  so  important 
as  the  torpedo  system  of  defense  or  attack,  for  out  of  this 
will  grow  the  liberty  of  the  seas  —  an  object  of  infinite 
importance  to  the  welfare  of  America  and  every  civilized 
country.  But  thousands  of  witnesses  have  now  seen  the 
steamboat  in  rapid  movement  and  they  believe;  but  they 
have  not  seen  a  ship  of  war  destroyed  by  a  torpedo,  and 
they  do  not  believe.  We  cannot  expect  people  in  general 
to  have  knowledge  of  physics  or  power  to  reason  from 
cause  to  effect,  but  in  case  we  have  war  and  the  enemy's 
ships  come  into  our  waters,  if  the  government  will  give 
me  reasonable  means  of  action,  I  will  soon  convince  the 
world  that  we  have  surer  and  cheaper  modes  of  defense 
than  they  are  aware  of/' 

Fulton  had  been  having  his  troubles  with  the  navy  de- 
partment. Soon  after  his  return  to  this  country  he  had 
made  his  usual  demonstration  of  torpedoing  a  small  an- 
chored vessel,  but  it  was  not  until  1810  that  he  was  given 
the  opportunity  to  make  a  test  attack  on  a  United  States 
warship.  But  stout  old  Commodore  Rogers,  who  had 
been  entrusted  with  the  defense  of  the  brig  Argus,  under 
which  Fulton  was  to  plant  a  torpedo,  anchored  the  vessel 
in  shallow  water,  stretched  a  tight  wall  of  spars  and  net- 


Robert  Fulton's  "  Nautilus  "          35 

ting  all  round  her,  and  successfully  defied  the  inventor 
to  blow  her  up.  Even  a  modern  destroyer  or  submarine 
would  be  puzzled  to  get  past  this  defense.  Though  com- 
pelled to  admit  his  failure,  Fulton  pointed  out  that  "  a 
system  then  in  its  infancy,  which  compelled  a  hostile 
vessel  to  guard  herself  by  such  extraordinary  means, 
could  not  fail  of  becoming  a  most  important  mode  of  war- 
fare." 

It  was  a  great  triumph  for  conservatism  —  the  same 
spirit  of  conservatism  that  threatens  to  send  our  navy 
into  its  next  war  with  no  battle-cruisers,  too  few  scouts 
and  sea-planes,  and  the  slowest  dreadnoughts  in  the  world. 
Though  Fulton  published  a  wonderful  little  book  on 
"  Torpedo  War  and  Submarine  Explosions "  in  New 
York  in  1810,  the  United  States  navy  made  no  use  of  it 
in  the  War  of  1812.  A  privateer  submarine  from  Con- 
necticut made  three  dives  under  the  British  battleship 
Rantillies  off  New  London,  but  failed  to  attach  a  torpedo 
for  the  old  reason:  copper  sheathing.  Further  attacks 
were  prevented  by  the  captain  of  the  Ramillies,  who  gave 
notice  that  he  had  had  a  number  of  American  prisoners 
placed  on  board  as  hostages.  Fulton  himself  was  hard 
at  work  superintending  the  building  both  of  the  Demolo- 
gos,  the  first  steam-propelled  battleship,  and  the  Mute, 
a  large  armored  submarine  that  was  to  carry  a  silent  en- 
gine and  a  crew  of  eighty  men,  when  he  died  in  1815. 


CHAPTER  IV 

SUBMARINES    IN    THE    CIVIL    WAR 

THE  most  powerful  battleship  in  the  world,  half  a 
century  ago,  was  the  U.S.S.  New  Ironsides.  She 
was  a  wooden-hulled,  ship-rigged  steamer  of  3486  tons 
displacement  —  about  one  tenth  the  size  of  a  modern 
superdreadnought  —  her  sides  plated  with  four  inches 
of  iron  armor,  and  carrying  twenty  heavy  guns.  On  the 
night  of  October  5,  1863,  the  New  Ironsides  was  on  block- 
ade duty  off  Charleston  Harbor,  when  Ensign  Howard, 
the  officer  of  the  deck,  saw  something  approaching  that 
looked  like  a  floating  plank.  He  hailed  it,  and  was  an- 
swered by  a  rifle  ball  that  stretched  him,  mortally 
wounded,  on  the  deck.  An  instant  later  came  the  flash 
and  roar  of  a  tremendous  explosion,  a  column  of  water 
shot  high  into  the  air  alongside,  and  the  New  Ironsides 
was  shaken  violently  from  stem  to  stern. 

The  Confederate  submarine  David  had  crept  up  and 
driven  a  spar-torpedo  against  Goliath's  armor. 

But  except  for  a  few  splintered  timbers,  a  flooded  en- 
gine-room, and  a  marine's  broken  leg,  no  damage  had 
been  done.  As  the  Confederate  craft  was  too  close  and 
too  low  in  the  water  for  the  broadside  guns  to  bear,  the 
crew  of  the  ironclad  lined  the  rail  and  poured  volley 
after  volley  of  musketry  into  their  dimly  seen  adversary 

36 


Submarines  in  the  Civil  War 


37 


till  she  drifted  away  into  the  night.  Her  crew  of  seven 
men  had  dived  overboard  at  the  moment  of  impact,  and 
were  all  picked  up  by  different  vessels  of  the  blockading 
fleet,  except  the  engineer  and  one  other,  who  swam  back 
"to  the  David,  started  her  engine  again,  and  brought  her 
safely  home  to  Charleston. 

The  David  was  a  cigar-shaped  steam  launch,  fifty- four 
feet  long  and  six  feet  broad  at  the  thickest  point.     Pro- 


View  when  immerse*.- 

Views  of  a  Confederate  David. 
From    Scharf's   History   of   the   Confederate   States   Navy. 

jecting  from  her  bow  was  a  fifteen- foot  spar,  with  a  tor- 
pedo charged  with  sixty  pounds  of  gunpowder  at  the  end 
of  it.  This  was  exploded  by  the  heat  given  off  by  certain 
chemicals,  after  they  were  shaken  up  together  by  the  im- 
pact of  the  torpedo  against  the  enemy's  ship.  The  David, 
steaming  at  her  full  speed  of  seven  knots  an  hour,  struck 
squarely  against  the  New  Ironsides  at  the  water-line  and 
rebounded  to  a  distance  of  seven  or  eight  feet  before 
this  clumsy  detonator  could  do  its  work.  When  the  ex- 


38          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

plosion  came,  the  intervening  body  of  water  prevented  it 
from  doing  any  great  damage. 

The  David  was  not  a  true  submarine  but  a  surface  tor- 
pedo boat,  that  could  be  submerged  till  only  the  funnel 
and  a  small  pilot-house  were  exposed.  A  number  of 
other  Davids  were  built  and  operated  by  the  Confederate 
States  navy,  but  the  first  of  them  was  the  only  one  to 
accomplish  anything. 

The  one  real  submarine  possessed  by  the  Confederacy 
was  not  a  David,  though  she  is  usually  so  called.  This 
was  the  C.S.S.  Hundley,  a  hand-power  "diving-boat" 


C.  S.  S.  Hundley. 

The   Only   Submarine   to   sink  a   Hostile   Warship  before  the  Outbreak  of 
the    Present    War. 

• 

not  unlike  Fulton's  Nautilus,  but  very  much  clumsier  and 
harder  to  manage.  She  had  ballast  tanks  and  a  pair 
of  diving-planes  for  steering  her  up  and  down,  and  she 
was  designed  to  attack  an  enemy's  ship  by  swimming 
under  it,  towing  a  torpedo  that  would  explode  on  striking 
her  opponent's  keel. 


^ 

Submarines  in  the  Civil  War         39 

The  Hundley  was  built  at  Mobile,  Alabama,  by  the 
firm  of  Hundley  and  McKlintock,  named  for  the  senior 
partner,  and  brought  to  Charleston  on  a  flatcar.  There 
she  was  manned  by  a  crew  of  nine  volunteers,  eight  of 
whom  sat  in  a  row  and  turned  the  cranks  on  the  propel- 
lor-shaft,  while  the  ninth  man  steered.  There  was  no 
conning-tower  and  the  forward  hatchway  had  to  be  left 
open  for  the  helmsman  to  look  out  of  while  running  on 
the  surface.  On  the  Hundley's  first  practice  cruise,  the 
wash  from  the  paddle-wheels  of  a  passing  steamer  poured 
suddenly  down  the  open  hatchway.  Only  the  steersman 
and  commanding  officer,  Lieutenant  Payne,  had  time  to 
save  himself  before  the  submarine  sank,  drowning  the 
rest  of  her  crew. 

The  boat  was  raised  and  Payne  took  her  out  with  a 
new  crew.  This  time  a  sudden  squall  sank  her  before 
they  could  close  the  hatches,  and  Payne  escaped,  with  two 
of  his  men.  He  tried  a  third  time,  only  to  be  capsized 
off  Fort  Sumter,  with  the  loss  of  four  of  his  crew.  On 
the  fourth  trip,  the  hatches  were  closed,  the  tanks  filled, 
and  an  attempt  was  made  to  navigate  beneath  the  surface. 
But  the  Hundley  dived  too  suddenly,  stuck  her  nose  deep 
into  the  muddy  bottom,  and  stayed  there  till  her  entire 
crew  were  suffocated.  On  the  fifth  trial  she  became  en- 
tangled in  the  cable  of  an  anchored  vessel,  with  the  same 
result. 

By  this  time  the  submarine's  victims  numbered  thirty- 
five,  and  the  Confederates  had  nicknamed  her  the  "  Peri- 
patetic Coffin."  But  at  the  sixth  call  for  volunteers,  they 
still  came  forward.  It  was  decided  to  risk  no  more  lives 
on  practice  trips  but  to  attack  at  once.  In  spite  of  the 


40          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

protests  of  Mr.  Hundley,  the  designer  of  the  craft,  her 
latest  and  last  commander,  Lieutenant  Dixon  of  the  2ist 
South  Carolina  Infantry,  was  ordered  by  General  Beau- 
regard  to  use  the  vessel  as  a  surface  torpedo-boat,  sub- 
merged to  the  hatch-coaming  and  with  the  hatches  open. 
A  spar-torpedo,  to  be  exploded  by  pulling  a  trigger  with 
a  light  line  runing  back  into  the  boat,  was  mounted  on  the 
bow.  Thus  armed,  and  manned  by  Lieutenant  Dixon, 
Captain  Carlson,  and  five  enlisted  men  of  their  regiment, 
the  little  Hundley  put  out  over  Charleston  bar  on  the 
night  of  February  17,  1864,  to  attack  some  vessel  of 
the  blockading  fleet.  This  proved  to  be  the  U.'S.S. 
Housatonic,  a  fine  new  thirteen-gun  corvette  of  1264 
tons.  What  followed  is  best  described  by  Admiral 
David  Porter  in  his  "  Naval  History  of  the  Civil  War." 

"  At  about  8.45  P.M.,  the  officer  of  the  deck  on  board 
the  unfortunate  vessel  discovered  something  about  100 
yards  away,  moving  along  the  water.  It  came  directly 
towards  the  ship,  and  within  two  minutes  of  the  time  it 
was  first  sighted  was -alongside.  The  cable  was  slipped, 
the  engines  backed,  and  all  hands  called  to  quarters.  But 
it  was  too  late  —  the  torpedo  struck  the  Housatonic  just 
forward  of  the  mainmast,  on  the  starboard  side,  on  a  line 
with  the  magazine.  The  man  who  steered  her  (the 
Hundley}  knew  where  the  vital  spots  of  the  steamer  were 
and  he  did  his  work  well.  When  the  explosion  took  place 
the  ship  trembled  all  over  as  if  by  the  shock  of  an  earth- 
quake, and  seemed  to  be  lifted  out  of  the  water,  and  then 
sank  stern  foremost,  heeling  to  port  as  she  went 
down/' 

The  Hundley  was  not  seen  after  the  explosion,  and  it 


Submarines  in  the  Civil  War          41 

was  supposed  that  she  had  backed  away  and  escaped. 
But  when  peace  came,  and  Charleston  Harbor  was  being 
cleared  of  the  wrecks  with  which  war  had  clogged  it,  the 
divers  sent  down  to  inspect  the  Housatonic  found  the 
Hundley  lying  beside  her.  Sucked  in  by  the  rush  of  the 
water  through  the  hole  her  torpedo  had  made,  she  had 
been  caught  and  dragged  down  by  her  own  victim.  All 
the  Hundley's  crew  were  found  dead  within  her.  So 
perished  the  first  and  last  submarine  to  sink  a  hostile  war- 
ship, before  the  outbreak  of  the  present  war.  A  smaller 
underwater  boat  of  the  same  type  was  privately  built  at 
New  Orleans  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  lost  on  her  trial 
trip,  and  not  brought  up  again  till  after  peace  was  de- 
clared. 

The  North  had  a  hand-power  submarine,  that  was  built 
at  the  Georgetown  Navy  Yard  in  1862.  It  was  designed 
by  a  Frenchman,  whose  name  is  now  forgotten  but  who 
might  have  been  a  contemporary  of  Cornelius  Van  Drebel. 
Except  that  its  hull  was  of  steel  instead  of  wood  and 
greased  leather,  this  first  submarine  of  the  United  States 
navy  was  no  better  than  an  eel-boat  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  It  was  propelled  by  eight  pairs  of  oars,  with 
hinged  blades  that  folded  up  like  a  book  on  the  return 
stroke.  The  boat  was  thirty-five  feet  long  and  six  in 
diameter,  and  was  rowed  by  sixteen  men.  It  was  sub- 
merged by  flooding  ballast  tanks.  There  was  an  oxygen 
tank  and  an  apparatus  for  purifying  the  used  air  by  blow- 
ing it  over  lime.  A  spar-torpedo  was  to  be  run  out  on 
rollers  in  the  bow. 

Ten  thousand  dollars  was  paid  to  the  inventor  of  this 
medieval  leftover,  and  he  prudently  left  the  country  be- 


42          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

fore  he  could  be  called  on  to  operate  it,  though  he  had 
been  promised  a  reward  of  five  thousand  dollars  for  every 
Confederate  ironclad  he  succeeded  in  blowing  up.  Like 
the  first  Monitor,  this  nameless  submarine  was  lost  in 
a  storm  off  Cape  Hatteras,  while  being  towed  by  a 
steamer. 

After  the  loss  of  the  Housatonic,  the  North  built  two 
semi-submersible  steam  torpedo-boats  on  the  same  idea 
as  the  David,  but  larger  and  faster.  Both  were  armed 
with  spar-torpedoes  and  fitted  with  ballast  tanks  to  sink 
them  very  low  in  the  water  when  they  attacked.  The 
smaller  of  the  two,  the  Stromboli,  could  be  submerged 
till  only  her  pilot-house,  smoke-stack,  and  one  ventilator 
showed  above  the  water.  The  other  boat  was  called  the 
Spuyten  Duyvil.  She  could  be  sunk  till  her  deck,  which 
was  covered  with  three  inches  of  iron  armor,  was  level 
with  the  water,  but  she  bristled  with  masts,  funnels,  con- 
ning-towers,  ventilators,  and  other  excrescences  that 
sprouted  out  of  her  hull  at  the  most  unexpected  places. 
Neither  of  these*  craft  was  ever  used  in  action. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE    WHITEHEAD    TORPEDO 

HOW  best  to  float  a  charge  of  explosives  against  the 
hull  of  an  enemy's  ship  and  there  explode  it  is  the 
great  problem  of  torpedo  warfare.  The  spar-torpedo, 
that  did  such  effective  work  in  the  Civil  War,  was  little 
more  than  a  can  of  gunpowder  on  the  end  of  a  stick. 
This  stick  or  spar  was  mounted  usually  on  the  bow  of  a 
steam-launch,  either  partially  submerged,  like  the  David, 
or  boldly  running  on  the  surface  over  log-booms  and 
through  a  hail  of  bullets  and  grapeshot,  as  when  Lieu- 
tenant Gushing  sank  the  Confederate  ironclad  Albemarle. 
Once  alongside,  the  spar-torpedo  was  run  out  to  its  full 
length,  raised,  depressed,  and  finally  fired  by  pulling  dif- 
ferent ropes.  So  small  was  the  chance  of  success  and  so 
great  the  danger  to  the  launch's  crew  that  naval  officers 
and  inventors  all  the  world  over  sought  constantly  for 
some  surer  and  safer  way. 

Early  in  the  sixties,  an  Austrian  artillery  officer  at- 
tached to  the  coast  defenses  conceived  the  idea  of  sending 
out  the  launch  without  a  crew.  He  made  some  drawings 
of  a  big  toy  boat,  to  be  driven  by  steam  or  hot  air  or  even 
by  clockwork,  and  steered  from  the  shore  by  long  ropes. 
As  it  would  have  no  crew,  this  boat  could  carry  the  ex- 
plosives in  its  hull,  and  the  spars  which  were  to  project 
from  it  in  all  directions  would  carry  no  torpedoes  them- 

43 


44          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

selves  but  would  serve  to  explode  the  boat's .  cargo  of 
guncotton  by  firing  a  pistol  into  it,  as  soon  as  one  of  the 
spars  came  into  contact  with  the  target.  Before  he  could 
carry  out  his  ideas  any  further,  this  officer  died  and  his 
plans  were  turned  over  to  Captain  Lupuis  of  the  Aus- 
trian navy.  Lupuis  experimented  diligently  with  surface 
torpedoes  till  1864,  but  found  that  he  would  have  to  dis- 
cover some  better  steering-device  than  ropes  from  the 
shore  and  some  other  motive-power  than  steam  or  clock- 
work. So  he  consulted  with  Mr.  Whitehead,  the  English 
manager  of  a  firm  of  engine  manufacturers  at  the  sea- 
port of  Fiume. 

Whitehead  gave  the  torpedo  a  fish-shaped  hull,  so  that 
it  could  run  beneath  instead  of  on  the  surface.  For  mo- 
tive-power he  used  compressed  air,  which  proved  much 
superior  to  either  steam  or  clockwork.  And  by  improv- 
ing its  rudders,  he  enabled  the  little  craft  to  keep  its  course 
without  the  aid  of  guide-ropes  from  the  shore.  The  chief 
defect  of  the  first  Whitehead  torpedoes,  which  were  fin- 
ished and  tried  in  1866,  was  that  they  kept  bobbing  to  the 
surface,  or  else  they  would  dive  too  deep  and  pass  harm- 
lessly under  the  target.  To  correct  this  defect,  White- 
head  invented  by  1868  what  he  called  the  "  balance  cham- 
ber." Then,  as  now,  each  torpedo  was  divided  into  a 
number  of  separate  compartments  or  chambers,  and  in 
one  of  these  the  inventor  placed  a  most  ingenious  device 
for  keeping  the  torpedo  at  a  uniform  depth.  The  contents 
of  the  balance-chamber  was  Whitehead's  great  secret, 
and  it  was  not  revealed  to  the  public  for  twenty  years. 

The  automobile  or,  as  it  was  then  called,  the  "  sub- 
marine locomotive "  torpedo  was  now  a  practicable, 


The  Whitehead  Torpedo  45 

though  by  no  means  perfected,  weapon,  and  the  Austrian 
naval  authorities  gave  it  a  thorough  trial  at  Fiume  in 
1868.  Whitehead  rigged  up  a  crude  ejecting  tube  on  the 
bow  of  a  gunboat,  and  successfully  discharged  two  of 
his  torpedoes  at  a  yacht.  The  Austrian  government 
promptly  adopted  the  weapon,  but  could  not  obtain  a 
monopoly  of  it,  for  Whitehead  was  a  patriotic  English- 
man. The  British  admiralty  invited  him  to  England  two 
years  later,  and  after  careful  trials  of  its  own,  induced  the 
English  government  to  buy  Whitehead's  secret  and  manu- 
facturing rights  for  $45,000.  Other  nations  soon  added 
"  Whiteheads  "  to  their  navies,  and  in  1873  there  was 
built  in  Norway  a  large,  fast  steam  launch  for  the  ex- 
press purpose  of  carrying  torpedoes  and  discharging  them 
at  an  enemy.  Every  one  began  to  build  larger  and 
swifter  launches,  till  they  evolved  the  torpedo-boat  and 
the  destroyer  of  to-day. 

The  torpedo  itself  has  undergone  a  similar  development 
in  size  and  efficiency.  The  difference  between  the  White- 
heads  of  forty-five  years  ago  and  those  of  to-day  is  strik- 
ingly shown  in  the  following  table : 

BRITISH  NAVAL  TORPEDOES  OF  1870 
Length,        Diameter,     Charge,       Range,         Speed, 
Feet  Inches       Pounds       Yards          Knots 

Large  14  16  67  600  7.5 

guncotton 
Small  13  10.58  in.    14  18  200  8.5 

dynamite 

BRITISH  NAVAL  TORPEDOES  OF  1915 
Large  21  21  330          12,000  48 

guncotton 
Small  18  18  200  16,000  36 

guncotton 


46          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

The  length  of  a  large  modern  torpedo,  it  will  be  ob- 
served, is  only  three  inches  less  than  that  of  Fulton's 
famous  submarine  boat  of  1801.  A  Whitehead  torpedo 
is  really  a  small  automatic  submarine,  steered  and  con- 
trolled by  the  most  ingenious  and  sensitive  machinery, 
as  surely  as  if  it  were  manned  by  a  crew  of  Lilliputian 
seamen. 

Projecting  from  the  head  is  the  "  striker/'  a  rod  which, 
when  the  torpedo  runs  into  anything  hard,  is  driven  back 
in  against  a  detonator  or  "  percussion-cap  "  of  fulminate 
of  mercury.  Just  as  the  hammer  of  a  toy  "  cap-pistol  " 
explodes  a  paper  cap,  so  the  sudden  shock  of  the  in-driven 
striker  explodes  the  fulminate,  which  is  instantly  ex- 
panded to  more  than  two  thousand  times  its  former  size. 
This,  in  turn,  gives  a  severe  blow  to  the  surrounding 
"  primer "  of  dry  guncotton.  The  primer  is  exploded, 
and  by  its  own  expansion  sets  off  the  main  charge  of  sev- 
eral hundred  pounds  of  wet  guncotton. 

The  reason  for  this  is  that  though  wet  guncotton  is 
safe* to  handle  because  a  very  great  shock  is  required 
to  make  it  explode,  dry  guncotton  is  much  less  so,  while  a 
shell  or  torpedo  filled  with  fulminate  of  mercury  would 
be  more  dangerous  to  its  owners  than  to  their  enemies, 
because  the  slightest  jar  might  set  it  off  prematurely. 
Every  precaution  is  taken  to  prevent  a  torpedo's  explod- 
ing too  soon  and  damaging  the  vessel  from  which  it 
is  fired. 

When  the  torpedo  is  shot  out  of  the  tube,  by  com- 
pressed air,  like  a  pea  from  a  pea-shooter,  the  striker  is 
held  fast  by  the  "jammer":  a  small  propellor-shaped 
collar,  whose  blades  begin  to  revolve  as  soon  as  they 


The  Whitehead  Torpedo  47 

strike  the  water,  till  the  collar  has  unscrewed  itself  and 
dropped  off  after  the  torpedo  has  traveled  about  forty 
feet.  A  copper  pin  that  runs  through  the  striker-rod 
is  not  removed  but  must  be  broken  short  off  by  a  blow 
of  considerable  violence,  such  as  would  be  given  by  run- 
ning into  a  ship's  hull.  As  a  third  safeguard,  there  is  a 
strong  safety-catch,  that  must  be  released  by  hand,  just 
before  the  torpedo  is  placed  in  the  tube. 

The  explosive  charge  of  two  or  three  hundred  pounds 
of  wet  guncotton  is  called  the  "  war-head."  In  peace  and 
for  target-practice  it  is  replaced  by  a  dummy  head  of 
thick  steel.  The  usual  target  is  the  space  between  two 
buoys  moored  a  ship's  length  or  less  apart.  At  the  end 
of  a  practice  run,  the  torpedo  rises  to  the  surface,  where 
it  can  be  recovered  and  used  again.  This  is  distinctly 
worth  while,  for  a  modern  torpedo  costs  more  than  seven 
thousand  dollars. 

Back  of  the  war-head  is  the  air-chamber,  that  contains 
the  motive-power  of  this  miniature  submarine.  The  air 
is  either  packed  into  it  by  powerful  pumps,  on  shore 
or  shipboard,  or  else  drawn  from  one  of  the  storage 
flasks  of  compressed  air,  a  number  of  which  are  car- 
ried on  every  submarine.  The  air-chamber  of  a  mod- 
ern torpedo  is  charged  at  a  pressure  of  from  2000  to  2500 
pounds  per  square  inch.  As  the 'torpedo  leaves  the  tube, 
a  lever  on  its  back  is  struck  and  knocked  over  by  a 
little  projecting  piece  of  metal,  and  the  starting-valve 
of  the  air-chamber  is  opened.  But  if  the  compressed  air 
were  allowed  to  reach  and  start  the  engines  at  once,  they 
would  begin  to  revolve  the  propellers  while  they  were 
still  in  the  air  inside  the  tube.  This  would  cause  the 


48          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

screws  to  "  race,"  or  spin  round  too  rapidly  and  perhaps 
break  off.  So  there  is  a  "  delay  ing-valve,"  which  keeps 
the  air  away  from  the  engines  till  another  valve-lever  is 
swung  over  by  the  impact  of  the  water  against  a  little 
metal  flap. 

As  the  compressed  air  rushes  through  the  pipe  from  the 
chamber  to  the  engine-room,  it  passes  through  a  "  re- 
ducing-valve,"  which  keeps  it  from  spurting  at  the  start 
and  lagging  at  the  finish.  By  supplying  the  air  to  the 
engines  at  a  reduced  but  uniform  pressure,  this  device 
enables  the  torpedo  to -maintain  the  same  speed  through- 
out the  run.  At  the  same  time  the  compressed  air  is 
heated  by  a  small  jet  of  burning  oil,  with  a  consequent 
increase  in  pressure,  power,  and  speed,  estimated  at  30 
per  cent.  All  these  devices  are  kept  not  in  the  air-cham- 
ber itself  but  in  the  next  compartment,  the  balance-cham- 
ber. 

Here  is  the  famous  little  machine,  once  a  close-kept 
secret  but  now  known  to  all  the  world,  that  holds  the 
torpedo  at  any  desired  depth.  Think  of  a  push-button, 
working  in  a  tube  open  to  the  sea,  with  the  water  pres- 
sure pushing  the  button  in  and  a  spiral  spring  inside 
shoving  it  out.  This  push-button  —  called  a  "  hydro- 
static valve  " —  is  connected  by  a  system  of  levers  with 
the  two  diving-planes  or  horizontal  rudders  that  steer 
the  torpedo  up  or  down.  By  turning  a  screw,  the  spring 
can  be  adjusted  to  exert  a  force  equal  to  the  pressure  of 
the  water  at  any  given  depth.  If  the  torpedo  dives  too 
deep,  the  increased  water-pressure  forces  in  the  valve, 
moves  the  levers,  raises  the  diving-planes,  and  steers  the 
torpedo  towards  the  surface.  As  the  water  pressure 


The  Whitehead  Torpedo  49 

grows  less,  the  spring  forces  out  the  valve,  depresses 
the  diving-planes,  and  brings  the  miniature  submarine 
down  to  its  proper  depth  again.  When  his  torpedoes 
grew  too  big  to  be  controlled  by  the  comparatively  feeble 
force  exerted  by  the  hydrostatic  valve,  Whitehead  in- 
vented the  "  servo-motor  "  :  an  auxiliary,  compressed- 
air  engine,  less  than  five  inches  long,  sensitive  enough  to 
respond  to  the  slightest  movement  of  the  valve  levers  but 
strong  enough  to  steer  the  largest  torpedo,  exactly  as  the 
steam  steering-gear  moves  the  huge  rudder  of  an  ocean 
liner. 

There  is  also  a  heavy  pendulum,  swinging  fore  and  aft 
and  attached  to  the  diving-planes,  that  checks  any  sud- 
den up-or-down  movement  of  the  torpedo  by  inclining 
the  planes  and  restoring  the  horizontal  position. 

Next  comes  the  engine-room,  with  its  three-cylinder 
motor,  capable  of  developing  from  thirty-five  to  fifty-five 
horse-power.  The  exhaust  air  from  the  engine  passes 
out  through  the  stern  in  a  constant  stream  of  bubbles, 
leaving  a  broad  white  streak  on  the  surface  of  the  water 
as  the  torpedo  speeds  to  its  mark. 

The  aftermost  compartment  is  called  the  buoyancy 
chamber.  Besides  adding  to  the  floatability  of  the  tor- 
pedo, this  space  also  holds  the  engine  shaft  and  the  gear 
attaching  it  to  the  twin  propellers.  The  first  White- 
heads  were  single-screw  boats.  But  the  revolution  of 
the  propellor  in  one  direction  set  up  a  reaction  that  caused 
the  torpedo  itself  to  partially  revolve  or  heel  over  in  the 
other,  disturbing  its  rudders  and  swerving  it  from  its 
course.  This  reaction  is  neutralized  by  using  two  pro- 
pellers, one  revolving  to  the  right,  the  other  to  the  left. 


50          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

Instead  of  being  placed  side  by  side,  as  on  a  steamer,  they 
are  mounted  one  behind  the  other,  with  the  shaft  of  one 
revolving  inside  the  hollow  shaft  of  the  other,  and  in  the 
opposite  direction. 

Long  after  they  could  be  depended  on  to  keep  a  proper 
depth,  the  Whiteheads  and  other  self-propelled  torpedoes 
were  liable  to  swing  suddenly  to  port  or  starboard,  or 
even  turn  completely  round.  During  the  war  between 
Chile  and  Peru,  in  1879,  the  Peruvian  ironclad  Huascar 
discharged  an  automobile  torpedo  that  went  halfway  to 
the  target,  changed  its  mind,  and  was  coming  back  to  blow 
up  its  owners  when  an  officer  swam  out  to  meet  it  and 
succeeded  in  turning  it  aside,  for  the  torpedoes  of  that 
time  were  slow  and  small  as  well  as  erratic. 

Nowadays  a  torpedo  is  kept  on  a  straight  course  by  a 
gyroscope  placed  in  the  buoyancy  chamber.  Nearly 
every  boy  knows  the  gyroscopic  top,  like  a  little  flywheel, 
that  you  can  spin  on  the  edge  of  a  tumbler.  The  upper 
part  of  this  toy  is  a  heavy  little  metal  wheel,  and  if  you 
try  to  push  it  over  while  it  is  spinning,  it  resists  and 
pushes  back,  as  if  it  were  alive.  A  similar  wheel,  weigh- 
ing about  two  pounds,  is  placed  in  the  buoyancy  chamber 
of  a  Whitehead.  When  the  torpedo  starts,  it  releases 
either  a  powerful  spring  or  an  auxiliary  compressed  air 
engine  that  sets  the  gyroscope  to  spinning  at  more  than 
two  thousand  revolutions  a  minute.  It  revolves  verti- 
cally, in  the  fore-and-aft  line  of  the  torpedo,  and  is 
mounted  on  a  pivoted  stand.  If  the  torpedo  deviates 
from  its  straight  course,  the  gyroscope  does  not,  and  the 
consequent  change  in  their  relative  positions  brings  the 
flywheel  into  contact  with  a  lever  running  to  the  servo- 


52          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

motor  that  controls  the  two  vertical  rudders,  which  soon 
set  the  torpedo  right  again. 

Thus  guided  and  driven,  a  modern  torpedo  speeds 
swiftly  and  surely  to  its  target,  there  to  blow  itself  into 
a  thousand  pieces,  with  a  force  sufficient  to  sink  a  ship 
a  thousand  times  its  size. 

The  Whitehead  is  used  by  every  navy  in  the  world 
except  the  German,  which  has  its  own  torpedo:  the 
"  Schwartzkopf ."  This,  however,  is  practicaly  identical 
with  the  Whitehead,  except  that  its  hull  is  made  of  bronze 
instead  of  steel  and  its  war-head  is  charged  with  trini- 
trotuluol,  or  T.N.T.,  a  much  more  powerful  explosive 
than  guncotton. 

After  the  Russo-Japanese  War,  when  several  Russian 
battleships  kept  afloat  although  they  had  been  struck  by 
Japanese  torpedoes,  many  naval  experts  declared  that  an 
exploding  war-head  spent  most  of  its  energy  in  throwing 
a  great  column  of  water  up  into  the  air,  instead  of  blow- 
ing in  the  side  of  the  ship.  So  Commander  Davis  of  the 
United  States  navy  invented  his  "  gun-torpedo."  This 
is  like  a  Whitehead  in  every  respect  except  that  instead 
of  a  charge  of  guncotton  it  carries  in  its  head  a  short 
eight-inch  cannon  loaded  with  an  armor-piercing  shell 
and  a  small  charge  of  powder.  In  this  type  of  torpedo, 
the  impact  of  the  striker  against  the  target  serves  to  fire 
the  gun.  The  shell  then  passes  easily  through  the  thin 
side  of  the  ship  below  the  armor-belt  and  through  any 
protecting  coal-bunkers  and  bulkheads  it  may  encounter, 
till  it  reaches  the  ship's  vitals,  where  it  is  exploded  by  the 
delayed  action  of  an  adjustable  time-fuse.  What  would 
happen  if  it  burst  in  a  magazine  or  boiler-room  is  best 


The  Whitehead  Torpedo 


53 


left  to  the  imagination.  Several  Davis  gun-torpedoes 
have  been  built  and  used  against  targets  with  very  satis- 
factory results,  but  they  have  not  yet  been  used  in  actual 
warfare. 

Mr.  Edward  F.  Chandler,  M.E.,  one  of  the  foremost 
torpedo-experts  in  America,  is  dissatisfied  with  the  com- 


Courtesy  of  the  Electric  Boat  Company. 

Davis  Gun-Torpedo  after  discharge,  showing  eight-inch  gun  forward 
of  air-flask. 

pressed-air  driven  gyroscope,  both  because  it  does  not 
begin  to  revolve  till  after  the  torpedo  has  been  launched 
and  perhaps  deflected  from  its  true  course,  and  because 
it  cannot  be  made  to  spin  continuously  throughout  the 
long  run  of  a  modern  torpedo.  He  proposes  to  remove 
the  compressed-air  servo-motors,  both  for  this  purpose 
and  for  controlling  the  horizontal-rudders  by  the  hydro- 
static valve,  and  replace  them  with  an  electrical-driven 
gyroscope  and  depth-gear.  The  increased  efficiency  of 
the  latter  would  enable  him  to  get  rid  of  the  heavy,  un- 


54          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

certain  pendulum,  thus  allowing  for  the  weight  of  the 
storage  batteries.  Mr.  Chandler  declares  that  his  elec- 
trically-controlled torpedo  can  be  lowered  over  the  side 
of  a  small  boat,  headed  in  any  desired  direction,  and 
started,  without  any  launching-tube.1 

Though  the  automobile  torpedo  has  been  brought  to  so 


Courtesy  of  the  Electric  Buat  Company. 

Effect  of  Davis  Gun-Torpedo  on  a  specially-constructed  target. 

high  a  state  of  perfection,  the  original  idea  of  steering 
from  the  shore  has  not  been  abandoned.  The  Brennan 
and  Sims-Edison  controllable  torpedoes  were  driven  and 
steered  by  electricity,  receiving  the  current  through  wires 
trailed  astern  and  carrying  little  masts  and  flags  above  the 
surface  to  guide  the  operator  on  shore.  But  these  also 
served  as  a  warning  to  the  enemy  and  gave  him  too  good 
a  chance  either  to  avoid  the  torpedo  or  destroy  it  with 
machine-gun  fire.  Then,  too,  the  trailing  wires  reduced 

1  See  the  "  Scientific  American,"  August  7,  1915. 


The  Whitehead  Torpedo  55 

its  speed  and  were  always  liable  to  get  tangled  in  the 
propellers.  Controllable  torpedoes  of  this  type  were 
abandoned  before  the  outbreak  of  the  present  war  and 
will  probably  never  be  used  in  action. 

A  new  and  more  promising  sort  of  controllable  torpedo 
was  immediately  suggested  by  the  invention  of  wireless 
telegraphy.  Many  inventors  have  been  working  to  per- 
fect such  a  weapon,  and  a  young  American  engineer,  Mr. 
John  Hays  Hammond,  Jr.,  seems  to  have  succeeded. 
From  his  wireless  station  on  shore,  Mr.  Hammond  can 
make  a  small,  crewless  electric  launch  run  hither  and  yon 
as  he  pleases  about  the  harbor  of  Gloucester,  Massachu- 
setts. The  commander  and  many  of  the  officers  of  the 
United  States  coast  artillery  corps  have  carefully  in- 
spected and  tested  this  craft,  which  promises  to  be  the 
forerunner  of  a  new  and  most  formidable  species  of 
coast  defense  torpedo. 


CHAPTER  VI 

FREAKS    AND    FAILURES 

DURING  the  half-century  following  the  death  of  Ful- 
ton, scarcely  a  year  went  by  without  the  designing 
or  launching  of  a  new'  man-power  submarine.  Some  of 
these  boats,  notably  those  of  the  Bavarian  Wilhelm  Bauer, 
were  surprisingly  good,  others  were  most  amazingly  bad, 
but  none  of  them  led  to  anything  better.  Inventor  after 
i  iventor  wasted  his  substance  discovering  what  Van 
Drebel,  Bushnell,  and  Fulton  had  known  before  him, 
only  to  die  and  have  the  same  facts  painfully  rediscovered 
by  some  one  on  the  other  side  of  the  earth. 

A  striking  example  of  this  lack  of  progress  is  Hal- 
stead's  Intelligent  Whale.  Built  for  the  United  States 
navy  at  New  York,  in  the  winter  of  1864—5,  this  craft  is 
no  more  modern  and  much  less  efficient  than  Fulton's 
Nautilus  of  1 80 1.  The  Intelligent  Whale  is  a  fat,  cigar- 
shaped,  iron  vessel  propelled  by  a  screw  cranked  by  man- 
power and  submerged  by  dropping  two  heavy  anchors  to 
the  bottom  and  then  warping  the  boat  down  to  any  de- 
sired depth.  A  diver  can  then  emerge  from  a  door  in  the 
submarine's  bottom,  to  place  a  mine  under  a  hostile  ship. 
It  was  not  until  1872  that  the  Intelligent  Whale  was  sent 
on  a  trial  trip  in  Newark  Bay.  Manned  by  an  utterly  in- 
experienced and  very  nervous  crew,  the  clumsy  submarine 
got  entirely  out  of  control  and  had  to  be  hauled  up  by  a 

56 


Freaks  and  Failures  57 

cable  that  had  been  thoughtfully  attached  to  her  before 
she  went  down.  Fortunately  no  lives  had  been  lost, 
but  the  wildest  stories  were  told  and  printed,  till  the 
imaginary  death-roll  ran  up  to  forty-nine.  The  Intel- 
ligent Whale  was  hauled  up  on  dry  land  and  can  still 
be  seen  on  exhibition  at  the  corner  of  Third  Street  and 
Perry  Avenue  in  the  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard. 

Lack  of  motive-power  was  the  reason  why  man-sized 
submarines  lagged  behind  their  little  automatic  brethren, 
the  Whitehead  torpedoes.  Compressed  air  was  just  the 
thing  for  a  spurt,  but  when  two  Frenchmen,  Captain 
Bourgois  and  M.  Brun,  built  the  Plongeur,  a  steel  sub- 
marine 146  feet  long  and  12  feet  in  diameter,  at  Roche- 
fort  in  1863,  and  fitted  it  with  an  eighty-horse-power, 
compressed-air  engine,  they  discovered  that  the  storage- 
flasks  emptied  themselves  too  quickly  to  permit  a  voyage 
of  any  length. 

The  Plongeur  also  proved  that  while  you  can  sink  a 
boat  to  the  bottom  by  filling  her  ballast-tanks  or  make 
her  rise  to  the  surface  by  emptying  them,  you  cannot 
make  her  float  suspended  between  two  bodies  of  water 
except  by  holding  her  there  by  some  mechanical  means. 
Without  anything  of  the  kind,  the  Plongeur  kept  bouncing 
up  and  down  like  a  rubber  ball.  Once  her  inventors  navi- 
gated her  horizontally  for  some  distance,  only  to  find 
that  she  had  been  sliding  on  her  stomach  along  the  soft 
muddy  bottom  of  a  canal.  Better  results  were  obtained 
after  the  Plongeur  was  fitted  with  a  crude  pair  of  diving- 
planes.  But  the  inefficiency  of  her  compressed-air  en- 
gine caused  her  to  be  condemned  and  turned  into  a  water 
tank. 


Freaks  and  Failures 


59 


I  Electricity  was  first  applied  in  1861  by  another  French- 
an,  named  Olivier  Riou.  This  is  the  ideal  motive- 
power  for  underwater  boats,  and  it  was  at  this  time  that 
Jules  Verne  described  the  ideal  submarine  in  his  immortal 
story  of  "  Twenty  Thousand  Leagues  Under  the  Sea." 
But  before  we  can  have  a  Nautilus  like  Captain  Nemo's 
we  must  discover  an  electric  storage  battery  of  unheard-of 
lightness  and  capacity. 

There  was  a  great  revival  of  French  interest  in  elec- 
tric submarines  after  Admiral  Aube,  who  was  a  lifelong 


:fefcd=§=: 


Le'  Plongeur. 

submarine  "  fan/'  became  minister  of  marine  in  1886. 
In  spite  of  much  ridicule  and  opposition,  he  authorized 
the  construction  of  a  small  experimental  vessel  of  this 
type  called  the  Gymnote.  She  was  a  wild  little  thing 
that  did  everything  short  of  turning  somersaults  when  she 
dived,  but  she  was  enough  of  a  success  to  be  followed  by 
a  larger  craft  named,  after  the  great  engineer  who  had 
designed  her  predecessor,  the  Gustave  Zede. 

:<  The  history  of  the  Gustarue  Zede  shows  how  much 
in  earnest  the  French  were  in  the  matter  of  submarines. 
When  she  was  first  launched  she  was  a  failure  in  almost 


60          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

every  respect,  and  it  was  only  after  some  years,  during 
which  many  alterations  and  improvements  were  carried 
out,  that  she  became  a  serviceable  craft.  At  first  noth- 
ing would  induce  the  Gustave  Zede  to  quit  the  surface, 
and  when  at  last  she  did  plunge  she  did  it  so  effectually 
that  she  went  down  to  the  bottom  in  10  fathoms  of  water 
at  an  angle  of  30  degrees.  The  committee  of  engineers 
were  on  board  at  the  time,  and  it  speaks  well  for  their 
patriotism  that  they  did  not  as  a  result  of  their  unpleasant 
experience  condemn  the  Gustaue  Zede  and  advise  the 
government  to  spend  no  more  money  on  submarine 
craft."  1 

Twenty-nine  other  electric  submarines  were  built  for 
the  French  navy  between  1886  and  1901.  During  the 
same  period,  a  French  gentleman  named  M.  Goubet 
built  and  experimented  with  two  very  small  electric  sub- 
marines, each  of  which  was  manned  by  two  men,  who  sat 
back  to  back  on  a  sort  of  settee  stuffed  with  machinery. 
Little  or  big,  all  these  French  boats  had  the  same  fatal 
defect :  lack  of  power.  Their  storage  batteries,  called  on 
to  propel  them  above,  as  well  as  below,  the  surface,  be- 
came exhausted  after  a  few  hours'  cruising.  They  were 
as  useless  for  practical  naval  warfare  as  an  electric  run- 
about would  be  to  haul  guns  or  carry  supplies  in  Flanders. 

But  if  compressed-air  and  electricity  were  too  quickly 
exhausted,  gasoline  or  petroleum  was  even  less  practicable 
for  submarine  navigation.  To  set  an  oil-engine,  that 
derives  its  power  from  the  explosion  of  a  mixture  of 
oil-vapor  and  air,  at  work  in  a  small  closed  space  like  the 
interior  of  a  submarine,  would  soon  make  it  uninhabit- 

1  Herbert  C.  Fyf e,  "  Submarine  Warfare,"  p.  269. 


Freaks  and  Failures  61 

able.  While  Mr.  Holland  was  puzzling  how  to  overcome 
this  difficulty,  in  the  middle  eighties,  a  Swedish  inventor 
named  Nordenfeldt  was  building  submarines  to  be  run  by 
steam-power. 

Mr.  Nordenfeldt,  who  is  remembered  to-day  as  the  in- 
ventor of  the  famous  gun  that  bears  his  name,  had  taken 
up  the  idea  of  an  English  clergyman  named  Garett,  who 
in  1878  had  built  a  submarine  called  the  Resurgam,  or 
"  I  Shall  Rise."  Garett's  second  boat,  built  a  year  later, 
had  a  steam-engine.  When  the  vessel  was  submerged, 
the  smoke-stack  was  closed  by  a  sliding  panel,  the  furnace 
doors  were  shut  tight,  and  the  engine  run  by  the  steam 
given  off  by  a  big  tank  full  of  bottled-up  hot  water. 
Nordenfeldt  improved  this  system  till  his  hot-water  tanks 
gave  off  enough  steam  to  propel  his  boat  beneath  the  sur- 
face for  a  distance  of  fourteen  miles. 

He  also  rediscovered  and  patented  Bushnell's  device 
for  submerging  a  boat  by  pushing  it  straight  down  and 
holding  it  under  with  a  vertical  propellor.  His  first  sub- 
marine had  two  of  these,  placed  in  sponsons  or  projec- 
tions on  either  side  of  the  center  of  the  hull.  The  Nor- 
denfeldt boats,  with  their  cigar-shaped  hulls  and  pro- 
jecting smoke-stacks,  looked  like  larger  editions  of  the 
Civil  War  Davids,  and  like  them,  could  be  submerged  by 
taking  in  water-ballast  till  only  a  strip  of  deck  with  the 
funnel  and  conning-tower  projected  above  the  surface. 
Then  the  vertical  propellors  would  begin  to  revolve  and 
force  the  boat  straight  down  on  an  even  keel.  Mr.  Nor- 
denfeldt insisted  with  great  earnestness  that  this  was  the 
only  safe  and  proper  way  to  submerge  a  submarine.  If 
you  tried  to  steer  it  downward  with  any  kind  of  driving- 


62          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

planes,  he  declared,  then  the  boat  was  liable  to  keep  on 
descending,  before  you  could  pull  its  head  up,  till  it  either 
struck  the  bottom  or  was  crushed  in  by  the  pressure  of 
too  great  a  depth  of  water.  There  was  a  great  deal  of 
truth  in  this,  but  Mr.  Nordenfeldt  failed  to  realize  that 
if  one  of  his  vertical  propellors  pushed  only  a  little  harder 


Steam  Submarine  Nordenfeldt  II,  at  Constantinople,   1887.     Ob- 
serve vertical-acting  propellors  on  deck. 

Reproduced    from    "  Submarine    Navigation,    Past    and    Present "    by    Alan 
H.    Burgoyne,    by    permission    of    E.    P.    Button    &    Company 

than  the  other,  then  the  keel  of  his  own  submarine  was 
going  to  be  anything  but  even. 

The  first  Nordenfeldt  boat  was  launched  in  1886  and 
bought  by  Greece,  after  a  fairly  successful  trial  in  the 
Bay  of  Salamis.  Two  larger  and  more  powerful  sub- 
marines :  Nordenfeldt  II  and  ///,  were  promptly  ordered 


Freaks  and  Failures  63 

by  Greece's  naval  rival  Turkey.  Each  of  these  was  125 
feet  long,  or  nearly  twice  the  length  of  the  Greek  boat, 
and  each  carried  its  two  vertical  propellers  on  deck,  one 
forward  and  the  other  aft.  Both  boats  were  shipped  in 
sections  to  Constantinople  in  1887,  but  only  Nordenfeldt 
II  was  put  together  and  tried.  She  was  one  of  the 
first  submarines  to  be  armed  with  a  bow  torpedo-tube  for 
discharging  Whiteheads,  and  as  a  surface  torpedo-boat, 
she  was  a  distinct  success.  But  when  they  tried  to  navi- 
gate her  under  water  there  was  a  circus. 

No  sooner  did  one  of  the  crew  take  two  steps  forward 
in  the  engine-room  than  down  went  the  bow.  The  hot 
water  in  the  boilers  and  the  cold  water  in  the  ballast- 
tanks  ran  downhill,  increasing  the  slant  still  further. 
English  engineers,  Turkish  sailors,  monkey-wrenches,  hot 
ashes,  Whitehead  torpedoes,  and  other  movables  came 
tumbling  after,  till  the  submarine  was  nearly  standing 
on  her  head,  with  everything  inside  packed  into  the  bow 
like  toys  in  the  toe  of  a  Christmas  stocking.  The  little 
vertical  propellers  pushed  and  pulled  and  the  crew  clawed 
their  way  aft,  till  suddenly  up  came  her  head,  down  went 
her  tail,  and  everything  went  gurgling  and  clattering 
down  to  the  other  end.  Nordenfeldt  II  was  a  perpetual 
see-saw,  and  no  mortal  power  could  keep  her  on  an  even 
keel.  Once  they  succeeded  in  steadying  her  long  enough 
to  fire  a  torpedo.  Where  it  went  to,  no  man  can  tell, 
but  the  sudden  lightening  of  the  bow  and  the  recoil  of 
the  discharge  made  the  submarine  rear  up  and  sit  down 
so  hard  that  she  began  to  sink  stern  foremost.  The 
water  was  blown  out  of  her  ballast  tanks  by  steam-pres- 
sure, and  the  main  engine  started  full  speed  ahead,  till 


n 

64          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

she  shot  up  to  the  surface  like  a  flying-fish.  The  Turkish 
naval  authorities,  watching  the  trials  from  the  shores  of 
the  Golden  Horn,  were  so  impressed  by  these  antics  that 
they  bought  the  boat.  But  it  was  impossible  to  keep  a 
crew  on  her,  for  every  native  engineer  or  seaman  who 
was  sent  on  board  prudently  deserted  on  the  first  dark 
night.  So  the  Nordenfeldt  II  rusted  away  till  she  fell 
to  pieces,  long  before  the  Allied  fleets  began  the  forcing 
of  the  Dardanelles. 

Fantastic  though  their  performances  seem  to  us  to- 
day, these  submarines  represent  the  best  work  of  some  of 
the  most  capable  inventors  and  naval  engineers  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  With  them  deserve  to  be  mentioned 
the  boats  of  the  Russian  Drzewiecki  and  the  Spaniard 
Peral.  Failures  though  they  were,  they  taught  the  world 
many  valuable  lessons  about  the  laws  controlling  the  ac- 
tions of  submerged  bodies. 

But  many  of  the  underwater  craft  invented  between 
1850  and  1900  can  be  classified  only  as  freaks.  Most  of 
them,  fortunately,  were  designed  but  never  built,  and 
those  that  were  launched  miraculously  refrained  from 
drowning  any  of  their  crews.  There  were  submarines 
armed  with  steam-driven  gimlets :  the 

"  nimble  tail, 

Made  like  an  auger,  with  which  tail  she  wriggles, 
Betwixt  the  ribs  of  a  ship  and  sinks  it  straight," 

that  Ben  Jonson  playfully  ascribed  to  Van  Drebel.  Dr. 
Lacomme,  in  1869,  proposed  a  submarine  railroad  from 
Calais  to  Dover,  with  tracks  laid  on  the  bottom  of  the 
Channel  and  cars  that  could  cast  off  their  wheels  and 


66          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

rise  to  the  surface  in  case  of  accident.  Lieutenant  Andre 
Constantin  designed,  during  the  siege  of  Paris,  a  boat  to 
be  submerged  by  drawing  in  pistons  working  in  large 
cylinders  open  to  the  water.  A  vessel  was  actually  built 
on  this  principle  in  England  in  1888,  and  submerged  in 
Tilbury  Docks,  where  the  soft  mud  at  the  bottom  choked 
the  cylinders  so  that  the  pistons  could  not  be  driven  out 
again  and  the  boat  was  brought  up  with  considerable  dif- 
ficulty. Two  particularly  delirious  inventors  claimed 
that  their  submarines  could  also  be  used  as  dirigible  bal- 
loons. Boucher's  underwater  boat  of  1886  was  to  have 
gills  like  a  fish,  so  that  it  need  never  rise  to  the  surface 
for  air,  and  was  further  adorned  with  spring-buffers  on 
the  bottom,  oars,  a  propellor  under  the  center  of  the 
keel,  and  a  movable  tail  for  sculling  the  vessel  forward. 
There  were  submarines  with  paddle-wheels,  submarines 
with  fins,  and  submarines  with  wings.  A  Venezuelan 
dentist,  Senor  Lacavalerier,  invented  a  double-hulled, 
cigar-shaped  boat,  whose  outer  hull  was  threaded  like 
a  screw,  and  by  revolving  round  the  fixed  inner  hull, 
bored  its  way  through  the  water.  But  he  had  been  an- 
ticipated and  outdone  by  Apostoloff,  a  Russian,  who  not 
only  designed  a  submarine  on  the  same  principle  but  in- 
tended it  to  carry  a  large  cabin  suspended  on  davits  above 
the  surface  of  the  water,  and  declared  that  his  vessel 
would  cross  the  Atlantic  at  an  average  speed  of  in 
knots  an  hour. 

As  late  as  1898  the  Spanish  government,  neglecting 
the  promising  little  electric  boat  built  ten  years  before 
by  Senor  Peral,  was  experimenting  with  two  highly 
impossible  submarines,  one  of  which  was  to  be  propelled 


68          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

by  a  huge  clock-spring,  while  the  other  was  perfectly 
round.  Needless  to  say,  neither  the  sphere  nor  the  toy 
boat  ever  encountered  the  American  fleet. 

At  the  same  time,  the  United  States  government  de- 
clined to  accept  the  war  services  of  the  already  prac- 
ticable boats  of  the  two  American  inventors  who  were 
about  to  usher  in  the  present  era  of  submarine  war- 
fare: Simon  Lake  and  John  P.  Holland. 


CHAPTER  VII 

JOHN  .P.    HOLLAND 

WHEN  the  Merrimac  rammed  the  Cumberland, 
burned  the  Congress,  and  was  fought  to  a  stand- 
still next  day  by  the  little  Monitor,  all  the  'world  realized 
that  there  had  been  a  revolution  in  naval  warfare.  The 
age  of  the  wooden  warship  was  gone  forever,  the  day 
of  the  ironclad  had  come.  And  a  twenty-year-old  Irish 
school-teacher  began  to  wonder  what  would  be  the  next 
revolution ;  what  new  craft  might  be  invented  that  would 
dethrone  the  ironclad.  This  young  Irishman's  name  was 
John  P.  Holland,  and  he  decided  to  devote  his  life  to  the 
perfection  of  the  submarine. 

Like  Robert  Fulton,  Admiral  Von  Tirpitz,  and  the 
Frenchman  who  built  the  Rotterdam  Boat  in  1652,  Hol- 
land relied  on  submarines  to  break  the  power  of  the 
British  fleet.  Though  born  a  British  subject,  in  the  little 
village  of  Liscannor,  County  Clare  in  the  year  1842,  he 
had  seen  too  many  of  his  fellow  countrymen  starved  to 
death  or  driven  into  exile  not  to  hate  the  stupid  tyranny 
that  characterized  England's  rule  of  Ireland  in  those  bit- 
ter, far-off  days.  He  longed  for  the  day  of  Ireland's  in- 
dependence, and  that  day  seemed  to  be  brought  much 
nearer  by  the  American  Civil  War..  Not  only  had  many 
thousand  brave  Irish-Americans  become  trained  veterans 

69. 


70          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

but  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  had  been  brought 
to  the  verge  of  war  by  the  sinking  of  American  ships 
by  the  Alabama  and  other  British-built,  Confederate 
commerce-destroyers.  When  that  Anglo-American  war 
broke  out,  there  would  be  an  army  ready  to  come  over  and 
free  Ireland  —  if  only  the  troublesome  British  navy  could 
be  put  out  of  the  way.  And  already  the  English  were 
launching  ironclad  after  ironclad  to  replace  their  now 
useless  steam-frigates  and  ships-of-the-line.  It  is  no  use 
trying  to  outbuild  or  outfight  the  British  navy  above 


The  Holland  No.  i.    Designed  to  carry  a  torpedo  and  fix  it  to  the 
bottom  of  a  ship,  on  the  general  principle  of  Bushnell's  Turtle. 
Drawn  by  Lieutenant  F.  M.  Barber,  U.  S.  N.,  in  1875. 

water,  and  John  P.  Holland  realized  this  in  1862,  as  sev- 
eral kings  and  emperors  have,  before  or  since. 

Though  his  friends  in  Cork  kept  laughing  at  him,  Hol- 
land worked  steadily  on  his  plans  for  a  submarine  boat, 
throughout  the  sixties.  Presently  he  came  to  America 
and  obtained  a  job  as  school-teacher  in  Paterson,  New 
Jersey.  There  he  built  and  launched  his  first  submarine 
in  1875.  It  was  a  sharp-pointed,  little,  cigar-shaped  af- 
fair, only  sixteen  feet  long  and  two  feet  in  diameter 
amidships.  This  craft  was  designed  to  carry  a  torpedo 
and  fix  it  to  the  bottom  of  a  ship,  on  the  general  principle 


John  P.  Holland  71 

of  Bushnell's  Turtle.  It  was  divided  into  four  compart- 
ments, with  air-chambers  fore  and  aft.  Air-pipes  led 
to  where  Holland  sat  in  the  middle,  with  his  head  in  a 
respirator  shaped  like  a  diver's  helmet,  and  his  feet  work- 
ing pedals  that  turned  the  propellor. 

There  was  nothing  revolutionary  about  this  Holland 
No.  i.  A  similar  underwater  bicycle  is  said  to  have 
been  invented  by  Alvary  Templo  in  1826,  and  Drzewiecki 
used  one  at  Odessa  in  1877.  But  Holland  used  his  to 
teach  himself  how  to  build  something  better.  Just  as 
the  Wright  brothers  learned  how  to  build  and  fly  aero- 
planes by  coasting  down  through  the  air  from  the  tops 
of  the  Kitty  Hawk  sand-hills  in  their  motorless  "  glider/' 
so  John  P.  Holland  found  how  to  make  and  navigate 
submarines  by  diving  under  the  surface  of  the  Passaic 
River  and  adjacent  waters,  and  swimming  around  there 
in  his  No.  I  and  her  successors. 

The  Holland  No.  2  was  launched  in  1877  and  became 
immediately  and  prophetically  stuck  in  the  mud.  She 
had  a  double  hull,  the  space  between  being  used  as  a  bal- 
last-tank, whose  contents  leaked  constantly  into  the  in- 
terior, and  she  was  driven  intermittently  by  a  four  horse- 
power petroleum  engine  of  primitive  design.  After  a 
series  of  trials  that  entertained  his  neighbors  and  taught 
the  inventor  that  the  best  place  for  a  single  horizontal 
rudder  is  the  stern,  Holland  took  the  engine  out  of  the 
boat  and  sank  her  under  the  Falls  Bridge,  where  she  lies 
to  this  day. 

He  then  entered  into  negotiations  with  the  Fenian 
Brotherhood,  a  secret  society  organized  for  the  purpose 
of  setting  up  an  Irish  republic  by  militant  methods. 


72          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

Though  not  a  Fenian  himself,  Holland  was  thoroughly 
in  sympathy  with  the  brotherhood,  and  offered  to  show 
them  how  they  could  get  round,  or  rather  under,  the 
British  navy.  You  may  have  seen  a  once-familiar  litho- 
graph of  a  green-painted  superdreadnought  of  strange 
design  flying  the  Crownless  Harp,  and  named  the  Irish 
battleship  Emerald  Isle.  The  only  real  Irish  warships 
of  modern  times,  however,  were  the  two  submarines  Hol- 
land persuaded  the  Fenians  to  have  him  build  at  their 
expense. 

Rear- Admiral  Philip  Hichborn,  former  Chief  Con- 
structor, U.S.N.,  said  of  these  two  boats: 

"  She  (the  earlier  one)  was  the  first  submarine  since 
Bushnell's  time  employing  water  ballast  and  always  re- 
taining buoyancy,  in  which  provision  was  made  to  insure 
a  fixed  center  of  gravity  and  a  fixed  absolute  weight. 
Moreover,  she  was  the  first  buoyant  submarine  to  be 
steered  down  and  up  in  the  vertical  plane  by  horizontal- 
rudder  action  as  she  was  pushed  forward  by  her  motor, 
instead  of  being  pushed  up  and  down  by  vertical-acting 
mechanism.1  Her  petroleum  engine,  provided  for  mo- 
tive-power and  for  charging  her  compressed-air  flasks, 
was  inefficient,  and  the  boat  therefore  failed  as  a  prac- 
tical craft;  but  in  her  were  demonstrated  all  the  chief 
principles  of  successful,  brain-directed,  submarine  navi- 
gation. In  1 88 1,  Holland  turned  out  a  larger  and  bet- 
ter boat  in  which  he  led  the  world  far  and  away  in  the 

1  But  Fulton's  Nautilus  could  not  possibly  have  made  the  dives  with 
which  she  is  credited  except  by  the  use  of  the  horizontal  rudders 
which  she  possessed  in  conjunction  with  the  push  of  her  man-power 
propeller.  Holland  had  carefully  studied  the  plans  and  letters  of 
Bushnell  and  Fulton. 


John  P.  Holland 


73 


solution  of  submarine  problems,  and  for  a  couple  of  years 
demonstrated  that  he  could  perfectly  control  his  craft  in 
the  vertical  plane.  Eventually,  through  financial  compli- 
cations, she  was  taken  to  New  Haven,  where  she  now 


is. 


Political  as  well  as  financial  complications  caused  the 


Photo  by  Brown  Bros. 

The  Fenian  Ram. 

(Photographed  by  Mr.  Simon  Lake,  in  the  shed  at  New  Haven.) 

internment  of  this  submarine,  which  a  New  York  re- 
porter, with  picturesque  inaccuracy,  called  the  Fenian 
Ram.  The  Irish  at  home  were  by  this  time  thinking  less 
of  fighting  for  independence  and  more  for  peacefully 
obtaining  home  rule,  while  the  arbitration  and  payment 
of  the  "  Alabama  claims  "  by  Great  Britain  had  removed 
all  danger  of  a  war  between  that  country  and  the  United 


74          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

States.  Under  these  circumstances,  many  of  the  Fenians 
felt  that  it  was  wasted  money  for  their  society  to  spend 
any  more  of  its  funds  on  warships  it  could  never  find  use 
for.  This  led  to  dissensions  which  culminated  in  a  party 
of  Fenians  seizing  the  Ram  and  taking  it  to  a  shed  on 
the  premises  of  one  of  their  members  at  New  Haven, 
where  it  has  remained  ever  since. 

But  the  construction  and  performances  of  this  sub- 
marine, and  of  several  others  which  he  soon  afterwards 
built  for  himself,  won  Holland  such  a  reputation  that 
when  Secretary  Whitney  decided  in  1888  that  submarines 
would  be  a  good  thing  for  the  United  States  navy,  the 
great  Philadelphia  ship-building  firm  of  Cramps  sub- 
mitted two  designs:  Holland's  and  Nordenfeldt's,  and 
the  former  won  the  award.  But  after  nearly  twelve 
months  had  been  spent  in  settling  preliminary  details,  and 
when  a  contract  for  building  an  experimental  boat  was 
just  about  to  be  awarded,  there  came  a  change  of  ad- 
ministration and  the  matter  was  dropped. 

This  was  a  great  disappointment  for  Holland,  and  the 
next  four  or  five  years  were  lean  ones  for  the  inventor. 
He  had  built  five  boats  and  designed  a  sixth  without  their 
having  brought  him  a  cent  of  profit.  It  was  not  until 
March  3,  1893,  that  Congress  appropriated  the  money 
for  the  construction  of  an  experimental  submarine,  and 
inventors  were  invited  to  submit  their  designs.  By  this 
time  John  P.  Holland  had  not  only  spent  all  his  own 
money,  but  all  he  could  borrow  from  his  relatives  and 
friends.  To  make  matters  worse,  the  country  was  then 
passing  through  a  financial  panic,  when  very  few  people 
had  any  money  to  lend  or  invest.  And  all  the  security 


John  P.  Holland  75 

Holland  could  offer  was  his  faith  in  the  future  of  the 
submarine,  which  at  that  time  was  a  stock  joke  of  the 
comic  papers,  together  with  those  other  two  crack-brained 
projects,  the  flying-machine  and  the  horseless  carriage. 

"  I  know  I  can  win  that  competition  and  build  that 
boat  for  the  Government,"  said  Holland  to  a  young  law- 
yer whom  he  had  met  at  lunch  in  a  downtown  New 
York  restaurant,  "  if  I  can  only  raise  the  money  to  pay 
the  fees  and  other  expenses.  I  need  exactly  $347.19." 

"  What  do  you  want  the  nineteen  cents  for  ?  "  asked 
the  other. 

"  To  buy  a  certain  kind  of  ruler  I  need  for  drawing  my 
plans." 

"  If  you  Ve  figured  it  out  as  closely  as  all  that,"  re- 
plied the  lawyer,  "  I  '11  take  a  chance  and  lend  you  the 
money." 

He  did  so,  receiving  in  exchange  a  large  block  of  stock 
in  the  new- formed  Holland  Torpedo-boat  Company. 
To-day  his  stock  is  worth  several  million  dollars. 

Mr.  Holland  won  the  competition  and  after  two  years' 
delay  his  company  began  the  construction  of  the  Plunger. 
This  submarine  was  to  be  propelled  by  steam  while  run- 
ning on  the  surface  and  by  storage-batteries  when  sub- 
merged. Double  propulsion  of  this  type  had  been  first 
installed  by  a  Southerner  named  Alstitt  on  a  submarine 
he  built  at  Mobile,  Alabama,  in  1863,  and  theoretically 
discussed  in  a  book  written  in  1887  by  Commander 
Hovgaard  of  the  Danish  navy.  Though  a  great  im- 
provement on  any  type  of  single  propulsion,  this  system 
had  many  drawbacks,  the  chief  of  which  was  the  length 
of  time  —  from  fifteen  to  thirty  minutes  —  that  it  took 


76          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

for  the  oil-burning  surface  engine  to  cool  and  rid  itself 
of  hot  gases  before  it  was  safe  to  seal  the  funnel  and 
dive.  Though  the  Plunger  was  launched  in  1897,  she 
was  never  finished,  for  Mr.  Holland  foresaw  her  defects. 
He  persuaded  the  Government  to  let  his  company  pay 
back  the  money  already  spent  on  the  Plunger  and  build 
an  entirely  new  boat. 

Holland  No.  8  was  built  accordingly,  but  failed  to  work 
properly.  Finally  came  the  ninth  and  last  of  her  line, 
the  first  of  the  modern  submarines,  the  world-famous 
Holland. 

She  was  a  chunky  little  porpoise  of  a  boat,  10  feet 
7  inches  deep  and  only  53  feet  10  inches  long,  and  look- 
ing even  shorter  and  thicker  than  she  was  because  of 
the  narrow,  comb-like  superstructure  running  fore  and 
aft  along  the  deck.  But  her  shape  and  dimensions  were 
the  results  of  twenty-five  years'  experience.  Built  at 
Mr.  Lewis  Nixon's  shipyards  at  Elizabethport,  New  Jer- 
sey, the  Holland  was  launched  in  the  early  spring  of  1898, 
between  the  blowing-up  of  the  Maine  and  the  outbreak 
of  the  Spanish-American  War.  But  though  John  P. 
Holland  repeatedly  begged  to  be  allowed  to  take  his  sub- 
marine into  Santiago  Harbor  and  torpedo  Cervera's  fleet, 
the  naval  authorities  at  Washington  were  too  conserva- 
tive-minded to  let  him  try. 

"  United  States  warship  goes  down  with  all  hands !  " 
the  small  boys  (I  was  one  of  them)  used  to  shout  at 
this  time,  and  then  explain  that  it  was  only  another  dive 
of  the  "  Holland  submarine."  Strictly  speaking,  the 
Holland  was  not  a  United  States  warship  till  October 
13,  1900,  when  she  was  formally  placed  in  commission 


78          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  Harry  H.  Caldwell, 
who  had  been  on  her  during  many  of  the  exhaustive  series 
of  trials  in  which  the  little  undersea  destroyer  proved  to 
even  the  most  conservative  officers  of  our  navy  that  the 
day  of  the  submarine  had  come  at  last. 

Propelled  on  the  surface  by  a  fifty  horse-power  gaso- 
line motor,  the  Holland  had  a  cruising  radius  of  1500 
miles  at  a  speed  of  seven  knots  an  hour.  Submerged, 
she  was  driven  by  electric  storage-batteries.  This  effec- 
tive combination  of  oil-engines  with  an  electric  motor  is 
.  one  of  John  P.  Holland's  great  discoveries,  and  is  used 
in  every  submarine  to-day.  When  her  tanks  were  filled 
till  her  deck  was  flush  with  the  water,  and  the  two  hori- 
zontal rudders  at  the  stern  began  to  steer  her  down- 
wards, the  Holland  could  dive  to  a  depth  of  twenty-eight 
feet  in  five  seconds.  She  had  no  periscope,  for  that  in- 
strument was  then  crude  and  unsatisfactory.  To  take 
aim,  the  captain  of  the  Holland  had  to  make  a  quick 
"  porpoise  dive,"  up  to  the  surface  and  down  again,  ex- 
posing the  conning-tower  for  the  few  seconds  needed  to 
take  aim  and  judge  the  distance  to  the  target.  Though 
by  this  means  the  Holland  succeeded  in  getting  within 
striking-distance  of  the  Kearsarge  and  the  New  York 
without  being  detected,  during  the  summer  manoeuvers 
of  the  Atlantic  fleet  off  Newport  in  1900,  it  has  proved 
fatal  to  the  only  submarine  that  has  tried  it  in  actual 
warfare  (see  page  160). 

Less  than  half  the  length  of  the  Nordenfeldt  II,  the 
Holland  did  not  pitch  or  see-saw  when  submerged. 
Each  of  her  crew  of  six  sat  on  a  low  stool  beside  the 
machinery  he  was  to  operate,  and  there  was  no  moving 


John  P.  Holland  79 

about  when  below  the  surface.  Neither  did  the  boat 
stand  on  her  tail  when  a  torpedo  was  discharged  from 
the  bow-tube,  for  the  loss  of  weight  was  immediately 
compensated  by  admitting  an  equivalent  amount  of  water 
into  a  tank.  Originally  the  Holland  had  a  stern  torpedo- 
tube  as  well,  besides  a  pneumatic  gun  for  throwing  eighty 
pounds  of  dynamite  half  a  mile  through  the  air,  but  these 
were  later  removed. 

How  the  Holland  impressed  our  naval  officers  at  that 
time  is  best  shown  in  the  oft-quoted  testimony  of  Ad- 
miral Dewey  before  the  naval  committee  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  in  1900. 

"  Gentlemen,  I  saw  the  operation  of  the  boat  down  off 
Mount  Vernon  the  other  day.  Several  members  of  this 
committee  were  there.  I  think  we  were  all  very  much 
impressed  with  its  performance.  My  aid,  Lieutenant 
Caldwell,  was  on  board.  The  boat  did  everything  that 
the  owners  proposed  to  do.  I  said  then,  and  I  have  said 
it  since,  that  if  they  had  had  two  of  those  things  at 
Manila,  I  could  never  have  held  it  with  the  squadron  I 
had.  The  moral  effect  —  to  my  mind,  it  is  infinitely  su- 
perior to  mines  or  torpedoes  or  anything  of  the  kind. 
With  those  craft  moving  under  water  it  would  wear 
people  out.  With  two  of  those  in  Galveston  all  the  navies 
of  the  world  could  not  blockade  the  place." 

The  Holland  was  purchased  by  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment on  April  n,  1900,  for  $150,000.  She  had  cost 
her  builders,  exclusive  of  any  office  expenses  or  salaries 
of  officers,  $236,615.43.  But  it  had  been  a  profitable  in- 
vestment for  the  Holland  Torpedo-boat  Company,  for 
on  August  25,  the  United  States  navy  contracted  with 


8o          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

it  for  the  construction  of  six  more  submarines.  And  in 
the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  though  it  was  not  an- 
nounced to  the  public  till  March  i,  1901,  five  other 


Photo  by  Brown  Bros. 


John  P.  Holland. 


Hollands  were  ordered  through  the  agency  of  Vickers 
Sons,  and  Maxim  by  the  British  admiralty.  Soon  every 
maritime  nation  was  either  buying  Hollands  or  paying 


John  P.  Holland  81 

royalties  on  the  inventor's  patents,  and  building  bigger, 
faster,  better  submarines  every  year. 

The  original  Holland  had  outlived  her  fighting  value 
when  she  was  condemned  by  Secretary  Daniels  in  June, 
1915,  to  be  broken  up  and  sold  as  junk.  There  is  still 
room  in  the  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard  for  that  worthless 
and  meaningless  relic,  the  Intelligent  Whale,  but  there 
was  none  for  the  Holland  submarine,  whose  place  in  his- 
tory is  with  the  Clairmont  and  the  Monitor. 

John  P.  Holland  withdrew  in  1904  from  the  Holland 
Torpedo-boat  Company,  which  has  since  become  merged 
with  the  Electric  Boat  Company,  that  builds  most  of  the 
submarines  for  the  United  States  navy,  and  many  for 
the  navies  of  foreign  powers.  Like  most  other  great 
inventive  geniuses,  Holland  was  not  a  trained  engineer, 
and  it  was  perhaps  inevitable  that  disputes  should  have 
arisen  between  him  and  his  associates  as  to  the  carrying 
out  of  his  ideas.  His  last  years  were  embittered  by  the 
belief  that  the  submarines  of  to-day  were  distorted  and 
worthless  developments  of  his  original  type.  Whether 
or  not  he  was  mistaken,  only  time  can  tell.  That  to 
John  P.  Holland,  more  than  to  any  other  man  since 
David  Bushriell  and  Robert  Fulton,  the  world  owes  the 
modern  submarine,  cannot  be  denied.  His  death,  on 
August  12,  1914,  was  but  little  noticed  in  the  turmoil 
and  confusion  of  the  first  weeks  of  the  great  European 
War.  But  when  the  naval  histories  of  that  war  are 
written,  his  name  will  not  be  forgotten. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE    LAKE    SUBMARINES 

JOHN  P.  HOLLAND  was  not  the  only  inventor  who 
responded  to  the  invitation  of  the  United  States  navy 
department  to  submit  designs  for  a  proposed  submarine 
-boat  in  i&93-  That  invitation  had  been  issued  and  an 
appropriation  of  $200,000  made  by  Congress  on  the 
recommendation  of  Commander  Folger,  chief  of  ord- 
nance, after  he  had  seen  a  trial  trip  on  Lake  'Michigan 
of  an  underwater  boat  invented  by  Mr.  George  C.  Baker. 
This  was  an  egg-shaped  craft,  propelled  by  a  steam  en- 
gine on  the  surface  and  storage-batteries  when  sub- 
merged, and  controlled  by  t$vo  adjustable  propellers, 
mounted  on  either  side  of  the  boat  on  a  shaft  running 
athwartship.  These  screws  could  be  turned  in  any  direc- 
tion, so  as  to  push  or  pull  the  vessel  forward,  downward, 
or  at  any  desired  angle.  Mr.  Baker  submitted  designs 
for  a  larger  boat  of  the  same  kind,  but  they  were  not 
accepted. 

The  third  inventor  who  entered  the  1893  competition 
was  Mr.  Simon  Lake,  then  a  resident  of  Baltimore.  He 
sent  in  the  plans  of  the  most  astonishing-looking  craft 
that  had  startled  the  eyes  of  the  navy  department  since 
Ericsson's  original  monitor.  It  had  two  cigar-shaped 
hulls,  one  inside  the  other,  the  space  between  being  used 
for  ballast-tanks.  It  had  no  less  than  five  propellers : 

82 


The  Lake  Submarines  83 

twin  screws  aft  for  propulsion,  a  single  screw  working 
in  an  open  transverse  tunnel  forward,1  to  "  swing  the 
vessel  at  rest  to  facilitate  pointing  her  torpedos,"  and  two 
downhaul  or  vertical-acting  propellers  "for  holding  vessel 
to  depth  when  not  under  way."  These  were  not  placed 
on  deck,  as  on  the  Nordenfeldt  II,  but  in  slots  in  the 
keel.  Other  features  of  the  bottom  were  two  anchor 


Submerged  W.L 


Courtesy  International  Marine  Engineering. 

Lake  1893  Design  as  Submitted  to  the  U.  S.  Navy  Department. 

weights,  a  detachable  "  emergency  keel,"  and  a  diving 
compartment.  On  deck  were  a  folding  periscope  and 
a  "  gun  arranged  in  watertight,  revolving  turret  for  de- 
fense purposes  or  attack  on  unarmored  surface  craft." 
There  were  four  torpedo  tubes,  two  forward  and  two  aft, 
according  to  the  modern  German  practice.  The  motive 
power  was  the  then  usual  combination  of  steam  and  stor- 
age batteries.  But  the  two  remaining  features  of  the 
1893  model  Lake  submarine  were  extremely  unusual. 

Instead  of  one  pair  of  horizontal  rudders,  there  were 
four  pairs,  two  large  and  two  small.  The  latter,  placed 
near  the  bow  and  stern,  were  "  levelling  vanes,  designed 
automatically  to  hold  the  vessel  on  a  level  keel  when  under 

1  Mr.  J.  F.  Waddington  used  vertical  propellers  in  tubes  through 
the  vessel  for  keeping  her  on  an  even  keel  or  submerging  when 
stationary,  on  a  small  electric  submarine  he  invented,  built  and 
demonstrated  at  Liverpool  in  1886. 


84          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

way  ";  while  the  larger  ones  were  called  "  hydroplanes  " 
and  so  located  and  designed  as  to  steer  the  submarine 
under,  not  by  making  it  dive  bow  foremost  but  by  caus- 


Courtesy  of  Mr.  Simon  Lake. 


The  Argonaut  Junior. 


ing  it  to  submerge  on  an  even  keel.  How  this  was  to  be 
accomplished  will  be  explained  presently.  The  other  new 
thing  about  the  Lake  boat  was  that  it  was  mounted  on 
wheels  for  running  along  the  sea-bottom.  There  were 
three  of  these  wheels:  a  large  pair  forward  on  a  strong 
axle  for  bearing  the  vessel's  weight,  and  a  small  steering- 
wheel  on  the  bottom  of  the  rudder. 


The  Lake  Submarines  85 

This  submarine  was  never  built,  however,  for  the 
congressional  appropriation  was  awarded  to  the  Holland 
Torpedo-boat  Company  and  Mr.  Lake  had  at  that  time 
no  means  for  building  so  elaborate  a  vessel  by  himself. 
What  he  did  build  was  the  simplest  and  crudest  little 
submarine  imaginable :  the  Argonaut  Jr.  She  was  a 
triangular  box  of  yellow  pine,  fourteen  feet  long  and  five 
feet  deep,  mounted  on  three  solid  wooden  wheels.  She 
was  trundled  along  the  bottom  of  Sandy  Hook  Bay  by 
one  or  two  men  cranking  the  axle  of  the  two  driving 
wheels.  The  boat  was  provided  with  an  air-lock  and 
diver's  compartment  "  so  arranged  that  by  putting  an 
air  pressure  on  the  diver's  compartment  equal  to  the  water 
pressure  outside,  a  bottom  door  could  be  opened  and  no 
water  would  come  into  the  vessel.  Then  by  putting  on 
a  pair  of  rubber  boots  the  operator  could  walk  around 
on  the  sea  bottom  and  push  the  boat  along  with  him  and 
pick  up  objects,  such  as  clams,  oysters,  etc.,  from  the 
sea  bottom."  2 

Enough  people  were  convinced  by  the  performances 
of  this  simple  craft  of  the  soundness  of  Mr.  Lake's  the- 
ories that  the  inventor  was  able  to  raise  sufficient  capital 
to  build  a  larger  submarine.  This  boat,  which  was  de- 
signed in  1895  and  built  at  Baltimore  in  1897,  was  called 
the  Argonaut.  When  launched,  she  had  a  cigar-shaped 
hull  thirty-six  feet  long  by  nine  in  diameter,  mounted  on 
a  pair  of  large  toothed  driving-wheels  forward  and  a 
guiding-wheel  on  the  rudder.  The  driving-wheels  could 

2  Quotations  in  this  chapter  are  from  Mr.  Lake's  articles  published 
in  "  International  Marine  Engineering,"  and  are  here  reprinted  by 
his  kind  permission. 


86          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

be  disconnected  and  left  to  revolve  freely  while  the  boat 
was  driven  by  its  single-screw  propeller.  There  was  a 
diver's  compartment  in  the  bottom  and  a  "  lookout  com- 
partment in  the  extreme  bow,  with  a  powerful  searchlight 
to  light  up  a  pathway  in  front  of  her  as  she  moved  along 
over  the  waterbed.  The  searchlight  I  later  found  of 
little  value  except  for  night  work  in  clear  water.  In  clear 
water  the  sunlight  would  permit  of  as  good  vision  without 
the  use  of  the  light  as  with  it,  while  if  the  water  was 
not  clear,  no  amount  of  light  would  permit  of  vision 
through  it  for  any  considerable  distance." 

Storage  batteries  were  carried  only  for  working  the 
searchlight  and  illuminating  the  interior  of  the  boat.  The 
Argonaut  was  propelled,  both  above  and  below  the  sur- 
face, by  a  thirty  horse-power  gasoline  engine,  the  first 
one  to  be  installed  in  a  submarine.  There  was  enough 
air  to  run  it  on,  even  when  submerged,  because  the 
Argonaut  was  ventilated  through  a  hose  running  to  a  float 
on  the  surface :  a  device  later  changed  to  two  pipe  masts 
long  enough  to  let  her  run  along  the  bottom  at  a  depth 
of  fifty  feet. 

The  Argonaut  had  no  hydroplanes  or  horizontal  rud- 
ders of  any  kind.  She  was  submerged,  like  the  Intelligent 
Whale,  by  "  two  anchor  weights,  each  weighing  1000 
pounds,  attached  to  cables,  and  capable  of  being  hauled  up 
or  lowered  by  a  drum  and  mechanism  within  the  boat.  .  .  . 
When  it  is  desired  to  submerge  the  vessel  the  anchor 
weights  are  first  lowered  to  the  bottom;  water  is  then 
allowed  to  enter  the  water-ballast  compartments  until  her 
buoyancy  is  less  than  the  weight  of  the  two  anchors,  say 
1500  pounds;  the  cables  connecting  with  the  weights  are 


The  Lake  Submarines  87 

•?then  hauled  in,  and  the  vessel  is  thus  hauled  to  the  bot- 
^tom,  until  she  comes  to  rest  on  her  three  wheels.  The 
tweights  are  then  hauled  into  their  pockets  in  the  keel,  and 
it  is  evident  that  she  is  resting  on  the  wheels  with  a  weight 
Jfequal  to  the  difference  between  her  buoyancy  with  the 
.weights  at  the  bottom,  and  the  weights  in  their  pockets, 
tpr  500  pounds  Now  this  weight  may  be  increased  or 
Diminished,  either  by  admitting  more  water  into  the  bal- 


Courtesy  of  International  Marine  Engineering. 

Argonaut  as  Originally  Built. 

ast  tanks  or  by  pumping  some  out.  Thus  it  will  be  seen 
that  we  have  perfect  control  of  the  vessel  in  submerging 
'tier,  as  we  may  haul  her  down  as  fast  or  as  slow  as  we 
^please,  and  by  having  her  rest  on  the  bottom  with  sufficient 
height  to  prevent  the  currents  from  moving  her  out  of  her 
^bourse  we  may  start  up  our  propeller  or  driving-wheels 
•nd  drive  her  at  will  over  the  bottom,  the  same  as  a  tricycle 
^js  propelled  on  the  surface  of  the  earth  in  the  upper  air. 


The  Story  of  the  Submarine 


In  muddy  bottoms,  we  rest  with  a  weight  not  much  over 
100  pounds;  while  on  hard  bottoms,  or  where  there  are 
strong  currents,  we  sometimes  rest  on  the  bottom  with 
,  a  weight  of  from  1000  to  1500  pounds.  .  .  . 

"  In  the  rivers  we  invariably  found  a  muddy  bed ;  in 
Chesapeake  Bay  we  found  bottoms  of  various  kinds, 
in  some  places  so  soft  that  our  divers  would  sink  up  to 
their  knees,  while  in  other  places  the  ground  would  be 
hard,  and  at  one  place  we  ran  across  a  bottom  which 
was  composed  of  a  loose  gravel,  resembling  shelled  corn. 
Out  in  the  ocean,  however,  was  found  the  ideal 
submarine  course,  consisting  of  a  fine  gray  sand,  almost 
as  hard  as  a  macadamized  road,  and  very  level  and  unk 
form." 

During  this  cruise  under  the  waters  of  Chesapeake  Bay/ 
the  Argonaut  came  on  the  wrecks  of  several  sunken  ves- 
"'••U,  which  Mr.  Lake  or  some  member  of  his  crew  ex- 
anr'v  '  u » rough  the  open  door  in  the  bottom  of  the  diving- 
compartrnen;.  The  air  inside  was  kept  at  a  sufficiently 
high  pre£:-ure  t  keep  the  water  from  entering,  and  the 
man  in  the  submarine  could  pull  up  pieces  of  the  wreck 
with  a  short  boathook,  or  even  reach  down  and  place  his 
bare  hand  on  the  back  of  a  big  fish  swimming  past.  Some- 
times members  of  the  crew  would  put  on  diving-suits  and 
walk  out  over  the  bottom,  keeping  in  communication  with 
the  boat  by  telephone.  Telephone  stations  were  even  es- 
tablished on  the  bottom  of  the  bay,  with  cables  running  to 
the  nearest  exchange  on  shore,  and  conversations  were 
held  with  people  in  Baltimore,  Washington,  and  New 
York.  (Perhaps  the  commanders  of  German  submarines 
in  British  waters  to-day  are  using  this  method  to 


The  Lake  Submarines  89 

municate  with  German  spies  in  London,  Dublin,  and  Liv- 
erpool. ) 

The  Spanish-American  War  was  being  fought  while 
Mr.  Lake  was  making  these  experiments.  The  entrance 
to  Hampton  Roads  was  planted  with  electric  mines,  but 
though  he  was  forbidden  to  go  too  near  them,  the  in- 
ventor proved  that  nothing  would  be  easier  than  to  locate 
the  cable  connecting  them  with  the  shore,  haul  it  up  into 
the  diver's  compartment  of  the  Argonaut  and  cut  it.  He 
did  this  with  a  dummy  cable  of  his  own,  and  then  re- 
peatedly begged  the  navy  department  to  let  him  take  the 
Argonaut  into  the  harbor  of  Santiago  de  Cuba  and  disable 
the  mines  that  were  keeping  Admiral  Sampson's  fleet  from 
going  in  and  smashing  the  Spanish  squadron  there.  But 
his  offer,  like  that  of  John  P.  Holland,  was  refused. 

"  In  1898,  also,"  says  Mr.  Lake,  "  the  Argonaut  made 
the  trip  from  Norfolk  to  New  York  under  her  own  power 
and  unescorted.  In  her  original  form  she  was  a  cigar- 
shaped  craft  with  only  a  small  percentage  of  reserve  buoy- 
ancy in  her  surface  cruising  condition.  We  were  caught 
out  in  the  severe  November  northeast  storm  of  1898  in 
which  over  two  hundred  vessels  were  lost  and  we  did  not 
succeed  in  reaching  a  harbor  in  the  '  horseshoe '  back  of 
Sandy  Hook  until  three  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  seas 
were  so  rough  they  would  break  over  her  conning-tower 
in  such  masses  I  was  obliged  to  lash  myself  fast  to 
prevent  being  swept  overboard.  It  was  freezing  weather 
and  I  was  soaked  and  covered  with  ice  on  reaching  har- 
bor." 

Mr.  Lake  then  sent  the  Argonaut  to  a  Brooklyn  ship- 
yard, where  her  original  cigar-shaped  hull  was  cut  in  half, 


90          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

and  lengthened  twenty  feet,  after  which  a  light  ship- 
shaped  superstructure  was  built  over  her  low  sloping  top- 
sides.  To  keep  it  from  being  crushed  in  by  water  pres- 
sure when  submerged,  scupper-like  openings  were  cut  in 
the  thin  plating  where  it  joined  the  stout,  pressure-resist- 
ing hull,  so  that  the  superstructure  automatically  filled 
itself  with  sea-water  on  submerging  and  drained  itself  on 
rising  again.  Though  uninhabitable,  its  interior  supplied 
useful  storage  space,  particularly  for  the  gasoline  fuel 
tanks,  which,  as  Mr.  Lake  had  already  discovered,  gave 


D 


D 


Courtesy  of  International  Marine  Engineering. 

Argonaut  as  Rebuilt. 

off  fumes  that  soon  rendered  the  air  inside  the  submarine 
unbreathable,  unless  the  tanks  were  kept  outside  instead 
of  inside  the  hull.  The  swan-bow  and  long  bowsprit  of 
the  new  superstructure,  together  with  the  two  ventilator- 
masts,  gave  the  rebuilt  Argonaut  a  schooner-like  appear- 
ance, and  her  bowsprit  has  been  compared  to  the  whip- 
socket  on  the  dashboard  of  the  earliest  automobiles. 
But  Mr.  Lake  declares  that  this  was  no  useless  leftover 
but  a  practicable  spring-buffer  to  guard  against  running 
into  submerged  rocks,  while  the  bobstay  helped  the  Ar- 


The  Lake  Submarines  91 

gonaut  to  climb  over  the  obstruction,  as  she  could  over 
anything  on  the  sea-bottom  she  could  get  her  bows  over. 

Primarily,  the  superstructure  served  to  make  the  sub- 
marine more  seaworthy  as  a  surface-craft.  Until  then, 
most  inventors  and  designers  of  undersea  boats  had  con- 
fined their  attentions  to  the  problems  of  underwater  navi- 
gation only,  because,  as  had  been  pointed  out  by  the  monk 
Mersenne  before  1648,  even  during  the  most  violent 
storms  the  disturbance  is  felt  but  a  little  distance  below 
the  surface.  But  Mr.  Lake  realized  that  a  submarine, 
like  every  other  kind  of  boat,  spends  most  of  its  existence 
on  top  of  the  water  and  that  it  is  not  always  desirable  to 
submerge  whenever  a  moderate-sized  wave  sweeps  over 
one  of  the  old-fashioned,  low-lying,  cigar-shaped  vessels. 
With  her  new  superstructure,  the  Argonaut  rode  the 
waves  as  lightly  as  any  yacht  and  ushered  in  the  era 
of  the  sea-going  submarine. 

It  was  not  until  a  year  later  that  the  Narval,  a  large 
double-hulled  submarine  with  a  ship-shaped  outer  shell  of 
light,  perforated  plating,  was  launched  in  France.  She 
was  propelled  by  steam  on  the  surface  and  by  storage  bat- 
teries when  submerged.  To  distinguish  this  sea-going 
torpedo-boat,  that  could  be  submerged,  from  the  earlier 
and  simpler  submarines  designed  and  engined  for  under- 
water work  only,  her  designer,  M.  Labeuf,  called  the 
Narval  a  "  submersible."  As  the  old  type  of  boat  soon 
became  extinct,  the  distinction  was  not  necessary  and  the 
old  name  "  submarine  "  is  still  applied  to  all  underwater 
craft.  That  Simon  Lake  and  not  M.  Labeuf  first  gave 
the  modern  sea-going  submarine  its  characteristic  and  es- 
sential superstructure  is  easily  proved  by  dates.  The 


92          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

Narval  was  launched  in  October,  1899,  the  Argonaut  was 
remodeled  in  December,  1898,  and  on  April  2,  1897,  Mr. 
Lake  applied  for  and  was  presently  granted  the  pioneer 
patent  on  a  "  combined  surface  and  submarine  vessel/' 
the  space  between  its  cylindrical  hull  and  the  superstruc- 
ture "  being  adapted  to  be  filled  with  water  when  the  ves- 
sel is  submerged  and  thus  rendered  capable  of  resisting 
the  pressure  of  the  water." 

But  though  in  her  remodeled  form  she  became  the 
forerunner  of  the  long  grim  submarine  cruisers  of  to-day, 
the  Argonaut  herself  had  been  built  to  serve  not  as  a 
warship  but  as  a  commercial  vessel.  Like  her  namesakes 
who  followed  Jason  in  the  Argo  to  far-off  Colchis  for 
the  Golden  Fleece,  she  was  to  go  forth  in  search  of  hid- 
den treasure.  She  was  to  have  been  the  first  of  a  fleet 
of  wheeled  bottom-workers,  salvaging  the  cargoes  of 
wrecked  ships ;  from  the  mail-bags  of  the  latest  lost  liner 
to  ingots  and  pieces-of -eight  from  the  sand-clogged  hulks 
of  long-sunk  Spanish  galleons,  or  bringing  up  sponges, 
coral,  and  pearls  from  the  depths  of  the  tropic  seas. 
But  though  he  investigated  a  few  wrecks  and  ingeniously 
transferred  a  few  tons  of  coal  from  one  into  a  sub- 
marine lighter  by  means  of  a  pipe-line  and  a  powerful 
force-pump,  Mr.  Lake  has  done  nothing  more  to  develop 
the  fascinating  commercial  possibilities  of  the  submarine 
since  1901,  because  he  has  been  kept  too  busy  building 
undersea  warships  for  the  United  States  and  other  naval 
powers. 

Mr.  Lake  declares  that  one  of  his  up-to-date  wheeled 
submarines  could  enter  a  harbor-mouth  defended  by 
booms  and  nettings  that  would  keep  out  either  surface 


94          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

torpedo  boats  or  ordinary  submarines.  The  smooth- 
backed  bottom-worker  of  this  special  type  would  slip  un- 
der the  netting  like  a  cat  under  a  bead  portiere.  If  the 
netting  were  fastened  down,  a  diver  would  step  out 
through  the  door  in  the  bottom  of  the  submarine  and 
either  cut  the  netting  from  its  moorings  or  attach  a  bomb 


Courtesy  of  Mr.  Simon  Lake. 

Cross-section  of  Diving-compartment  on  a  Lake  Submarine. 

to  blow  a  hole  for  the  bottom-worker  to  go  in  through. 
An  ordinary  submarine,  entering  a  hostile  harbor,  would 
be  in  constant  danger  of  running  aground  in  shallow  water 
and  either  sticking  there  or  rebounding  to  the  surface, 
to  be  seen  and  fired  at  by  the  enemy.  Even  if  its  com- 
mander succeeded  in  keeping  to  the  deep  channel  by 
dead  reckoning  —  a  process  akin  to  flying  blindfolded  in 


The  Lake  Submarines  95 

an  aeroplane  up  a  crooked  ravine  and  remembering  just 
when  and  where  to  turn  —  even  if  he  dodged  the  rocks 
and  sand  bars,  he  would  be  liable  to  bump  the  nose  of  his 
boat  against  an  anchored  contact  mine(  see  Chapter  XI). 
But  the  Lake  bottom-worker  would  trundle  steadily  along, 
sampling  the  bottom  to  find  where  it  was,  and  passing 
safely  under  the  mines  floating  far  above  it.  The  divers 
would  make  short  work  of  cutting  the  mine  cables,  or  they 
might  plant  mines  of  their  own  under  the  ships  in  the 
harbor  and  blow  them  up  as  Bushnell  tried  to.  Using 
electric  motors  and  storage  air-flasks,  with  no  pipe  masts 
or  other  "  surface-indications "  to  betray  its  presence, 
one  of  these  boats  could  remain  snugly  hid  at  the  bot- 
tom of  an  enemy's  harbor  as  long  as  its  supplies  held  out. 

As  yet,  however,  we  have  not  heard  of  any  such  ex- 
ploits in  the  present  war,  though  they  seem  perfectly 
feasible.  Mr.  Lake  sold  a  boat  designed  for  this  sort  of 
work  and  called  the  Protector  to  Russia  in  1906. 

The  most  characteristic  feature  of  the  Lake  submarines 
is  not  the  wheels,  which  are  found  only  on  those  specially 
designed  for  bottom  working,  but  the  hydroplanes. 
These  are  horizontal  rudders  that  are  so  placed  and  de- 
signed as  to  steer  the  boat  forward  and  downward,  but 
at  the  same  time  keeping  it  on  an  even  keel.  Bushnell 
and  Nordenfeldt  forced  their  boats  straight  up  and  down 
like  buckets  in  a  well,  John  P.  Holland  made  his  tip 
up  its  tail  and  dive  like  a  loon,  but  Mr.  Lake  conceived  the 
idea  of  having  his  boat  descend  like  a  suitcase  carried  by 
a  man  walking  down-stairs:  the  suitcase  moves  steadily 
forward  and  downward  towards  the  front  door  but  it  re- 
mains level.  The  first  method  with  its  vertical  propel- 


96          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

lers  wasted  too  much  energy,  the  second  incurred  the  risk 
of  diving  too  fast  and  too  deep,  no  matter  whether  the 
single  pair  of  horizontal  rudders '  were  placed  on  the 
bow,  or  amidships,  or  on  the  stern.  So  Mr.  Lake  used 
two  pairs  of  horizontal  rudders  "  located  at  equal  dis- 
tances forward  and  aft  of  the  center  of  gravity  and  buoy- 
ancy of  the  vessel  when  in  the  submerged  condition,  so  as 
not  to  disturb  the  trim  of  the  vessel  when  the  planes  were* 
inclined  down  or  up  to  cause  the  vessel  to  submerge  or 
rise  when  under  way/'  These  he  called  hydroplanes,  to 
distinguish  them  from  another  set  of  smaller  horizontal 
rudders,  which  at  first  he  called  "  leveling-vanes  "  and 
which  were  not  used  to  steer  the  submarine  under  but 
manipulated  to  keep  her  at  a  constant  depth  and  on  a  level 
keel  while  running  submerged. 

In  theory,  the  early  Lake  boats  were  submerged  on  an 
even  keel ;  in  practice,  they  went  under  at  an  angle  of  sev- 
eral degrees.  But  they  made  nothing  like  the  abrupt 
dives  of  the  Holland. 

"As  the  Electric  Boat  Company's  boats  (Holland 
type)  increased  in  size/'  declares  Chief  Constructor  D. 
W.  Taylor,  U.S.N.,  "  bow  rudders  were  fitted,  and  nowa- 
days all  submarines  of  this  type  in  our  navy  are  fitted 
with  bow  rudders  as  well  as  stern  rudders.  The  Lake 
type  submarines  are  still  fitted  with  hydroplanes.  But  as 
you  may  see,  means  for  effecting  submergence  have  ap- 
proached each  other  very  closely:  in  fact,  speaking  gen- 
erally, submarines  all  over  the  world  now  have  two  or 
more  sets  of  diving-rudders;  the  most  general  arrange- 
ment is  one  pair  forward  and  one  pair  aft;  in  some  types 


The  Lake  Submarines 


97 


three  pairs  are  fitted,  but  this  arrangement  is  more  un- 
usual. 

"  In  general  it  may  be  said  then  that  modern  sub- 
marines of  both  types  submerge  in  practically  the  same 
way.  They  assume  a  very  slight  angle  of  inclination,  say 
a  degree  and  a  half  or  two  degrees,  and  submerge  at  this 
angle.  This  may  be  said  to  be  practically  on  an  even 
keel." 


Courtesy  of  International  Marine  Engineering. 

Cross-section   of   the   Protector,   showing   wheels   stowed   away 
when  not  running  on  the  sea  bottom. 

The  credit  of  originating  this  now  world-wide  practice 
of  "  level-keel  submergence "  obviously  belongs,  as 
"  Who  's  Who  in  America  "  gives  it,  to 

"  Lake,  Simon,  naval  architect,  mechanical  engineer. 
Born  at  Pleasantville,  New  Jersey,  September  4,  1866; 
son  of  John  Christopher  and  Miriam  M.  (Adams)  Lake; 
educated  at  Clinton  Liberal  Institute,  Fort  Plain,  New 
York,  and  Franklin  Institute,  Philadelphia;  married 
Margaret  Vogel  of  Baltimore,  June  9,  1890.  Inventor  of 
even  keel  type  of  submarine  torpedo  boats;  built  first  ex- 


98          The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

perimental  boat,  1894;  built  Argonaut,  1897  (first  sub- 
marine to  operate  successfully  in  the  open  sea)  ;  has  de- 
signed and  built  many  submarine  torpedo  boats  for  the 
United  States  and  foreign  countries;  spent  several  years 


Mr.   Simon  Lake. 

in  Russia,  Germany,  and  England,  designing,  building, 
and  acting  in  an  advisory  capacity  in  construction  of  sub- 
marine boats.  Also  inventor  of  submarine  apparatus  for 
locating  and  recovering  sunken  vessels  and  their  cargoes ; 
submarine  apparatus  for  pearl  and  sponge  fishing,  heavy 


The  Lake  Submarines  99 

oil  internal  combustion  engine  for  marine  propulsion,  etc. 
Member  of  the  Society  of  Naval  Architects  and  Marine 
Engineers,  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers, 
American  Society  of  Naval  Engineers,  Institute  of  Naval 
Architects  (London) ,  Schffsbautechnische  Gesellschaft 
(Berlin).  Mason.  Clubs,  Engineers'  (New  York),  Al- 
gonquin, (Bridgeport,  Connecticut).  Home,  Milford, 
Connecticut.  Office,  Bridgeport,  Connecticut/7 

When  the  Krupps  first  took  up  the  idea  of  constructing 
submarines  for  the  German  and  Russian  governments, 
the  great  German  firm  consulted  with  Mr.  Lake,  who  was 
at  that  time  living  in  Europe.  An  elaborate  contract  was 
drawn  up  between  them.  The  Krupps  agreed  to  employ 
Mr.  Lake  in  an  advisory  capacity  and  to  build  "  Lake 
type  "  boats,  both  in  Russia,  where  they  were  to  erect  a 
factory  and  share  the  profits  with  him,  and  in  Germany, 
on  a  royalty  basis.  Before  he  could  sign  this  contract, 
Mr.  Lake  had  to  obtain  the  permission  of  the  directors 
of  his  own  company  in  Bridgeport.  In  the  meanwhile, 
he  gave  the  German  company  his  most  secret  plans  and 
specifications.  But  the  Krupps  never  signed  the  contract, 
withdrew  from  going  into  Russia,  and  their  lawyer  coolly 
told  Mr.  Lake  that,  as  he  had  failed  to  patent  his  inven- 
tions in  Germany,  his  clients  were  perfectly  free  to  build 
"  Lake  type  "  submarines  there  without  paying  him  any- 
thing and  were  going  to  do  so. 

The  famous  Krupp-built  German  submarines  that  are 
playing  so  prominent  a  part  in  the  present  war  are  there- 
fore partly  of  American  design.  Whenever  Mr.  Lake 
reads  that  another  one  of  them  has  been  destroyed  by  the 
Allies,  his  emotions  must  be  rather  mixed. 


CHAPTER  IX 

A    TRIP    IN    A    MODERN    SUBMARINE 

LIEUTENANT  PERRY  SCOPE,  commanding  the 
X-class  flotilla,  was  sitting  in  his  comfortable  little 
office  on  the  mother-ship  Ozark,  when  I  entered  with  a 
letter  from  the  secretary  of  the  navy,  giving  me  permis- 
sion to  go  on  board  a  United  States  submarine.  With- 
out such  authorization  no  civilian  may  set  foot  on  the 
narrow  decks  of  our  undersea  destroyers,  though  he  may 
visit  a  battleship  with  no  more  formality  than  walking 
into  a  public  park. 

"  We  're  too  small  and  full  of  machinery  to  hold  a 
crowd/'  explained  the  lieutenant,  "  and  the  crowd 
would  n't  enjoy  it  if  they  came.  No  nice  white  decks  for 
the  girls  to  dance  on  or  fourteen-inch  guns  for  them  to 
sit  on  while  they  have  their  pictures  taken.  Besides, 
everything's  oily  —  you'd  better  put  on  a  suit  of  over- 
alls instead  of  those  white  flannels." 

There  were  plenty  of  spare  overalls  on  the  Ozark,  for 
she  was  the  mother-ship  of  a  family  of  six  young  sub- 
marines. Built  as  a  coast  defense  monitor  shortly  after 
the  Spanish  War,  she  had  long  since  been  retired  from  the 
fighting-line,  and  was  now  the  floating  headquarters,  dor- 
mitory, hospital,  machine-shop,  bakery,  and  general  store 
for  the  six  officers  and  the  hundred  and  fifty  men  of  the 
flotilla. 

100 


!O2        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

Moored  alongside  the  parent-ship,  the  submarine  X~4 
was  filling  her  fuel-tanks  with  oil  through  a  pipe-line,  in 
preparation  for  the  day's  cruise  and  target-practice  I  was 
to  be  lucky  enough  to  witness.  Two  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  long,  flat-decked  and  straight-stemmed,  she  looked, 
except  for  the  lack  of  funnels,  much  more  like  a  surface- 
going  torpedo-boat  than  the  landsman's  conventional  idea 
of  a  submarine. 

"  I  thought  she  would  be  cigar-shaped,"  I  said  as  we 
went  on  board. 

"  She  is  —  underneath,"  answered  Lieutenant  Scope. 
"  What  you  see  is  only  a  light-weight  superstructure  or 
false  hull  built  over  the  real  one.  See  those  holes  in  it, 
just  above  the  water  line?  They  are  to  flood  the  super- 
structure with  whenever  we  submerge,  otherwise  the 
water  pressure  would  crush  in  these  thin  steel  plates  like 
veneering.  But  it  makes  us  much  more  seaworthy  for 
surface  work,  gives  us  a  certain  amount  of  deckroom, 
and  stowage-space  for  various  useful  articles,  such  as 
this." 

Part  of  the  deck  rose  straight  up  into  the  air,  like  the 
top  of  a  freight-elevator  coming  up  through  the  side- 
walk. Beneath  the  canopy  thus  formed  was  a  short-bar- 
reled, three-inch  gun. 

"  Fires  a  twelve-pound  shell,  like  the  field-pieces  the 
landing-parties  take  ashore  from  the  battleships,"  ex- 
plained the  naval  officer,  as  he  trained  the  vicious-looking 
little  cannon  all  around  the  compass.  "  Small  enough  to 
be  handy,  big  enough  to  sink  any  merchant  ship  afloat, 
or  smash  anything  that  flies." 


A  Trip  in  a  Modern  Submarine      103 

Here  he  pointed  the  muzzle  straight  up  as  if  gunning 
for  hostile  aeroplanes. 

"  And  please  observe,"  he  concluded,  as  the  gun 
sank  down  into  its  lair  again,  "  how  that  armored  hatch- 
cover  protects  the  gun-crew  from  shrapnel  or  falling 
bombs." 

I  followed  him  to  the  conning-tower,  or,  as  he  always 
spoke  of  it,  the  turret.  The  little  round  bandbox  of  the 
Holland  has  developed  into  a  tall,  tapering  structure, 
sharply  pointed  fore  and  aft  to  lessen  resistance  when  run- 
ning submerged.  Above  the  turret  was  a  small  navigat- 
ing-bridge,  screened  and  roofed  with  canvas,  where  a  red- 
haired  quartermaster  stood  by  the  steering-wheel,  and 
saluted  as  we  came  up  the  ladder.  The  lieutenant  put  the 
engine-room  telegraph  over  to  "  Start,"  and  a  mighty 
motor  throbbed  underneath  our  feet.  Then  the  mooring 
was  cast  off,  the  telegraph  put  over  to  "  Slow  Ahead," 
and  the  X-j.  put  out  to  sea. 

"  How  long  a  cruise  could  she  make?  "  I  asked. 

"  Four  thousand  miles  is  her  radius,"  answered  her 
commander.  "  Back  in.  1915,  ten  American-designed  sub- 
marines crossed  from  Canada  to  England  under  their 
own  power." 

"  Yet  it  is  only  a  few  years  since  we  were  told  that 
submarines  could  only  be  used  for  coast  defense,  unless 
they  were  carried  inside  their  mother-ships  and  launched 
near  the  scene  of  battle,"  I  remarked.  "  Or  that  each 
battleship  should  carry  a  dinky  little  submarine  on  deck 
and  lower  it  over  the  side  like  a  steam-launch." 

"  People  said  the  same  thing  about  torpedo-boats," 


104        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

agreed  the  lieutenant ;  "  they  began  as  launches  —  now 
look  at  the  size  of  that  destroyer  smoking  along  over 
there.  Ericsson  thought  that  any  ironclad  bigger  than  a 
Civil  War  monitor  would  be  an  unwieldy  monster.  Even 
John  P.  Holland  fought  tooth  and  nail  against  increasing 
the  length  of  his  submarines.  This  boat  of  mine  is  five 
times  the  length  of  the  old  Holland,  but  she  's  only  a 
primitive  ancestor  of  the  perfect  submarine  of  the  fu- 
ture." 

"  She  is  n't  a  submarine  at  all,"  I  replied  presently,  as 
the  X~4  swept  on  down  the  coast  at  a  good  twenty-two 
knots,  her  foredeck  buried  in  foam  and  the  sea-breeze 
singing  through  the  antennae  of  her  wireless.  "  She  's 
nothing  but  a  big  motor-boat/' 

"  And  she  's  got  some  big  motors,"  replied  the  lieuten- 
ant. "  Better  step  below  and  have  a  look  at  them." 

I  went  down  through  the  open  hatchway  to  the  interior 
of  the  boat  and  aft  to  the  engine-room.  There  I  found 
two  long,  many-cylindered  oil-engines  of  strange  design, 
presided  over  by  a  big  blond  engineer  whose  grease- 
spotted  dungarees  gave  no  hint  as  to  his  rating. 

"  What  kind  of  machines  are  these?  "  I  shouted  above 
the  roar  they  made.  "  And  why  do  you  need  two  of 
them?" 

"  Diesel  heavy-oil  engines/'  he  answered.  "  One  for 
each  propeller." 

"  What  is  the  difference  between  one  of  these  and  the 
gasoline  engine  of  a  motor-car?  I  know  a  little  about 
that." 

"Do  you  know  what  the  carburetor  is?"  asked  the 
engineer. 


Li  -  "°°(§  «  w  w  "•  3   * 


^8.1"  3  If  I  3 

g^srssg  s- 

i.|#i?:^8^ 
l^^^s 


^  3 


io6        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

'  That 's  where  the  gasoline  is  mixed  with  air,  before 
it  goes  into  the  cylinder." 

The  engineer  nodded. 

"  The  mixture  is  sucked  into  the  cylinder  by  the  down- 
stroke  of  the  piston.  The  up-stroke  compresses  it,  and 
then  the  mixture  is  exploded  by  an  electric  spark  from  the 
spark-plug.  The  force  of  the  explosion  drives  the  pis- 
ton down,  and  the  next  stroke  up  drives  out  the  refuse 
gases.  That 's  how  an  ordinary,  four-cycle  gasoline 
motor  works. 

"  But  the  Diesel  engine,"  he  continued,  "  does  n't  need 
any  carburetor  or  spark-plug.  When  the  piston  makes 
its  first  upward  or  compression-stroke,  there  is  nothing  in 
the  cylinder  but  pure  air.  This  is  compressed  to  a  pres- 
sure of  about  500  pounds  a  square  inch  —  and  when  you 
squeeze  anything  as  hard  as  that,  you  make  it  mighty 
hot  —" 

"  Like  a  blacksmith  pounding  a  piece  of  cold  iron 
to  a  red  heat?"  I  suggested.  The  engineer  nodded 
again. 

"  That  compressed  air  is  so  hot  that  the  oil  which  has 
been  spurted  in  through  an  injection-valve  is  exploded, 
and  drives  the  piston  down  on  the  power-stroke.  The 
waste  gases  are  then  blown  out  by  compressed  air.  There 
are  an  air-compressor  and  a  storage  tank  just  for  scaveng- 
ing, or  blowing  the  waste  gases  out  of  every  three  power- 
cylinders." 

"  What  are  the  advantages  of  the  Diesel  over  the  gaso- 
line engine  ?  " 

"  In  the  first  place,  it  gives  more  power.  You  see, 
three  out  of  every  four  strokes  made  by  the  piston  of  a 


A  Trip  in  a  Modern  Submarine      107 

gasoline  engine  —  suction-stroke,  compression-stroke,  and 
scavenging-stroke  —  waste  power  instead  of  producing  it. 
But  the  Diesel  is  what  we  call  a  two-cycle  engine;  its 
piston  makes  only  two  trips  for  each  power-stroke.  In 
the  second  place,  it  is  cheaper,  because  instead  of  gasoline 
it  uses  heavy,  low-price  oil.  And  this  makes  it  much 
safer,  for  the  heavy  oil  does  not  vaporize  so  easily.  The 


Courtesy  of  the  Electric  Boat  Company. 

Auxiliary  Switchboard  and  Electric  Cook-stove,  in  a  U.  S. 
Submarine. 

air  in  some  of  the  old  submarines  that  used  gasoline 
motors  would  get  so  that  it  was  like  trying  to  breathe  in- 
side a  carburetor,  and  there  was  always  the  chance  of  a 
spark  from  the  electric  motors  exploding  the  whole 
business,  and  your  waking  up  to  find  the  trained  nurse 
changing  your  bandages.  The  German  navy  refused  to 
build  a  submarine  as  long  as  there  was  nothing  better 
than  gasoline  to  propel  it  on  the  surface.  They  did  n't 


io8        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

launch  their  U-i  till  1906,  after  Dr.  Diesel  had  got  his 
motor  into  practicable  shape.  It  cost  him  twenty  years 
of  hard  work,  but  without  his  motor  we  could  n't  have 
the  modern  submarine.  And  they  're  using  it  more  and 
more  in  ocean  freighters.  There  's  a  line  of  motor-ships 
running  to-day  between  Scandinavia  and  San  Francisco, 
through  the  Panama  Canal. 

"  Aft  of  the  Diesel,  here/'  continued  the  engineer,  "  is 
our  electric  motor,  for  propelling  her  when  submerged. 
Reverse  it  and  have  it  driven  by  the  Diesel  engine,  and  the 
motor  serves  as  a  dynamo  to  generate  electricity  for  charg- 
ing the  batteries.  As  long  as  we  can  get  oil  and  come  to 
the  surface  to  use  it,  we  can  never  run  short  of  '  juice.'  l 

"  Besides  turning  the  propeller,  the  electricity  from  the 
batteries  lights  the  boat,  and  turns  the  ventilating  fans, 
works  the  air-compressor  for  the  torpedo-tubes,  drives  all 
the  big  and  little  pumps,  runs  a  lot  of  auxiliary  motors 
that  haul  up  the  anchor,  turn  the  rudders,  and  do  other 
odd  jobs,  it  heats  the  boat  in  cold  weather  — " 

"  And  cooks  the  grub  all  the  year  round,  don't  forget 
that,  Joe,"  said  another  member  of  the  crew.  "  Luncheon 
is  served  in  the  palm  room." 

We  ate  from  a  swinging  table  let  down  from  the  ceil- 
ing of  the  main-  or  living-compartment  of  the  submarine, 
that  extended  forward  from  the  engine-room  to  the  tiny 
officers'  cabin  and  the  torpedo  room  in  the  bows.  Tiers 
of  canvas  bunks  folded  up  against  the  walls  showed  where 
the  crew  slept  when  on  a  cruise.  For  lunch  that  day  we 
had  bread  baked  on  the  mother-ship,  butter  out  of  a  can, 
fried  ham,  fried  potatoes,  and  coffee  hot  from  a  little 
1  Electric  current. 


A  Trip  in  a  Modern  Submarine      109 

electric  stove  such  as  you  can  see  in  the  kitchenette  of  a 
light-housekeeping  apartment  on  shore.  The  lieutenant's 
lunch  was  carried  up  to  him  on  the  bridge.  When  the 
meal  was  over,  most  of  the  men  went  on  deck,  and  my 
friend  the  engineer  put  a  large  cigar  in  his  mouth.  I 


Courtesy  of  the  Electric  Boat  Company. 

Forward  deck  of  a  U.  S.  Submarine,  in  cruising  trim. 

took  out  a  box  of  matches  and  was  about  to  strike  one 
for  his  benefit  when  he  stopped  me,  saying, 

"  Don't  ever  strike  a  light  in  a  submarine  or  a  dyna- 
mite factory.  It 's  unhealthy." 

I  apologized  profusely. 

"  The  air  is  so  much  better  than  I  had  expected  that 
I  forgot  where  I  was." 

"  Yes,"  said  the  engineer,  chewing  his  unlighted  cigar, 
"  there  is  plenty  of  good  air  in  a  big  modern  boat  like 
this,  running  on  the  surface  in  calm  weather  and  with 


lio        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

the  main  hatch  and  all  ventilators  open.  But  come  with 
us  when  we  're  bucking  high  seas  or  running  submerged 
on  a  breathing-diet  of  canned  air  flavored  with  oil,  and 
you  '11  understand  why  so  many  good  men  have  been  in- 
valided out  of  the  flotilla  with  lung-trouble.  We  're  the 
only  warships  without  any  dogs  or  parrots  or  other  mas- 
cots on  board,  for  no  animal  could  endure  the  air  in 
a  submarine." 


Courtesy  of  the  Electric  Boat  Company. 

Same,  preparing  to  submerge.    Railing  stowed  away  and 
bow-rudders  extended. 

"  I  thought  every  submarine  carried  a  cage  of  white 
mice,  because  they  began  to  squeak  as  soon  as  the  air 
began  to  get  bad  and  so  warned  the  crew." 

"  That  was  a  crude  device  of  the  early  days/'  replied 
the  engineer.  "  We  don't  carry  white  mice  any  more, 
though  I  believe  they  still  use  them  in  the  British  navy." 

I  went  up  on  deck,  to  find  that  the  X~4  had  reached 
the  practice-grounds  and  was  being  made  ready  for  a 


A  Trip  in  a  Modern  Submarine      ill 

dive.  Her  crew  were  busy  dismantling  and  stowing  away 
the  bridge  and  the  light  deck-railing,  hauling  down  the 
flag,  and  closing  all  ventilators  and  other  openings. 

"  How  long  has  it  taken  you  to  get  ready?  "  I  asked 
Lieutenant  Scope. 

"  Twenty  minutes,"  he  answered.  "  But  the  real  div- 
ing takes  only  two  minutes.  We  '11  go  below  now,  sink 
her  to  condition,  and  run  her  under  with  the  diving  rud- 
ders." 

"  What  are  those  things  unfolding  themselves  on  either 
side  of  the  bows?  "  I  asked.  "  I  thought  the  diving  rud- 
ders were  carried  astern." 

"  Modern  submarines  are  so  long  that  they  need  them 
both  fore  and  aft,"  replied  the  lieutenant.  "  As  you  see, 
the  diving  rudders  fold  flat  against  the  side  of  the  boat 
where  they  will  be  out  of  harm's  way  when  we  are  run- 
ning on  the  surface  or  lying  alongside  the  mother-ship. 
Better  come  below  now,  for  we  're  going  to  dive." 

We  descended  into  the  turret  and  the  hatch  was  closed. 
The  Diesel  engines  had  already  been  stopped  and  the 
electric  motors  were  now  turning  the  propellers. 

"  Why  are  those  big  electric  pumps  working  down 
there?"  I  asked. 

"  Pumping  water  into  the  ballast-tanks." 

"  But  does  n't  the  water  run  into  the  tanks  anyhow,  as 
soon  as  you  open  the  valves?  "  I  asked  the  lieutenant. 

"  Turn  a  tumbler  upside  down  and  force  it  down  into 
a  basin  of  water,"  he  replied,  "  and  you  trap  some  air 
in  the  top  of  the  tumbler,  which  prevents  the  water  from 
rising  beyond  a  certain  point.  The  same  thing  takes 
place  in  our  tanks,  and  to  fill  them  we  have  to  force  in 


112        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

the  water  with  powerful  pumps  that  compress  the  air  in 
the  tanks  to  a  very  small  part  of  its  original  bulk.  This 
compressed  air  acts  as  a  powerful  spring  to  drive  the 
water  out  of  the  tanks  again  when  we  wish  to  rise.  By 
blowing  out  the  tanks,  a  submarine  can  come  to  the  sur- 
face in  twenty  seconds  or  one  sixth  the  time  it  takes  to 
submerge." 

"  When  are  we  going  under?  "  I  asked  him.  The  lieu- 
tenant looked  at  his  watch  and  answrered, 

"  We  have  been  submerged  for  the  last  four  minutes." 

I  experienced  a  feeling  of  the  most  profound  disap- 
pointment. Ever  since  I  had  been  a  very  small  boy  I  had 
been  looking  forward  to  the  time  when  I  should  go  down 
in  a  submarine  boat,  and  now  that  time  had  passed  with- 
out my  realizing  it. 

"  But  why  did  n't  I  feel  the  boat  tilt  when  she  dived?  " 
I  demanded. 

"  Because  she  went  down  a  very  gentle  slope,  between 
two  and  three  degrees  at  the  steepest.  The  only  way  you 
could  have  noticed  it  would  have  been  to  watch  these 
gages." 

Large  dials  on  the  wall  of  the  turret  indicated  that  the 
X~4  was  running  on  what  was  practically  an  even  keel  at 
a  depth  of  sixteen  feet  and  under  a  consequent  .water- 
pressure  of  1024  pounds  on  every  square  foot  of  her  hull. 

"  How  deep  could  she  go?  " 

"  One  hundred  and  fifty  feet  —  if  she  had  to.  The 
strong  inner  hull  of  a  modern  submarine  is  built  up  of 
three  quarter  inch  plates  of  the  best  mild  steel  and  well 
braced  and  strengthened  from  within.  But  as  a  rule 
there  is  no  need  of  our  diving  below  sixty  feet  at  the 


A  Trip  in  a  Modern  Submarine      113 

deepest,  or  far  enough  to  clear  the  keel  of  the  largest 
ship.  You  will  notice  how  the  depth-control  man  is 
holding  her  steady  by  manipulating  the  forward  hori- 
zontal rudders,  just  as  an  aviator  steadies  his  aeroplane." 


Courtesy  of  the  Electric  Boat  Company. 

Depth-control  Station,  U.  S.  Submarine. 

Wheel  governing  horizontal  rudders,  gages  showing  depth,  trim,  etc. 

"  He  must  be  a  strong  man  to  handle  those  two  big 
horizontal  rudders." 

"  He  has  an  electric  motor  to  do  the  hard  work  for  him, 
as  has  the  quartermaster  steering  the  course  here  with 
the  vertical  rudder." 

The  same  red-headed  petty  officer  that  I  had  noticed 
on  the  bridge  now  grasped  the,  spokes  of  a  smaller  steer- 
ing-wheel inside  the  conning-tower. 

"  What  is  that  queer-looking  thing  whirling  round  and 
round  in  front  of  him?  "  I  asked. 

"  A  Sperry  gyroscopic  compass,"  replied  the  lieutenant. 


114        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

"  An  ordinary  magnetic  compass  could  not  be  relied  on 
to  point  in  any  particular  direction  if  it  was  shut  up  in 
a  steel  box  full  of  charged  electric  wires,  like  the  turret 
of  a  submarine.  We  tried  to  remedy  this  by  building  con- 
ning-towers  of  copper,  till  Mr.  Sperry  perfected  a  compass 

that  has  no  magnetic 
needle,  but  operates  on 
the  principle  of  the 
gyroscope.  You  know 
that  a  heavy,  rapidly 
rotating  wheel  resists 
any  tendency  to  being 
shifted  relative  to 
space?" 
"  Yes/' 

"  The  earth,  revolv- 
ing on  its  axis,  is  noth- 
ing but  a  big  gyroscope 
—  that  is  why  it  stays 
put.  The  little  gyro- 
scope on  this  compass 
spins  at  right  angles  to 
the  revolution  of  the 

earth  and  so  keeps  in  a 
Cross-section  of  a  Periscope.  due     north     and     south 

line.  But  the  frame  it  is  mounted  on  turns  with  the 
ship,  so  the  relative  positions  of  the  frame  and  the  gyro- 
axis  show  in  what  direction  the  submarine  is  heading." 

"  And  you  can  see  what 's  ahead  of  you  through  the 
periscope.  Who  invented  that?  " 

"  The  idea  is  a  very  old  one.     Certain  French  and 


A  Trip  in  a  Modern  Submarine     115 

Dutch  inventors  designed  submarines  with  periscopes  as 
long  ago  as  the  eighteen-fifties.  In  the  Civil  War,  the 
light-draft  river-monitor  Osage  had  attached  to  her  turret 
a  crude  periscope  made  by  her  chief  engineer,  Thomas 
Doughty,  out  of  a  piece  of  three-inch  steam-pipe  with 
holes  cut  at  each  of  its  ends  at  opposite  sides,  and  pieces 
of  looking-glass  inserted  as  reflectors.  By  means  of 
this  instrument  her  captain,  now  Rear-Admiral,  Thomas 
O.  Self  ridge,  was  able  to  look  over  the  high  banks  of  the 
Red  River  when  the  Osage  had  run  aground  in  a  bend 
and  was  being  attacked  by  three  thousand  dismounted 
Confederate  cavalry,  who  were  repulsed  with  the  loss  of 
four  hundred  killed  or  wounded  by  the  fire  of  the  moni- 
tor's 1 1 -inch  guns,  directed  through  the  periscope.2 

"  But  as  late  as  1900  the  periscope  was  so  crude  and  un- 
satisfactory an  instrument  that  John  P.  Holland  would 
have  nothing  to  do  with  it.  The  credit  for  bringing  it 
to  its  present  efficiency  belongs  chiefly  to  the  Germans, 
who  kept  many  of  their  scientists  working  together  on 
the  solution  of  the  difficult  problems  of  optics  that  were 
involved. 

"  By  turning  this  little  crank,"  the  lieutenant  continued, 
"  I  can  revolve  the  reflector  at  the  top  of  the  tube.  This 
reflector  contains  a  prism  which  reflects  the  image  of  the 
object  in  view  down  through  a  system  of  lenses  in  the 
tube  to  another  prism  here  at  the  bottom,  where  the  ob- 
server sees  it  through  an  eyepiece  and  telescope  lenses." 

I  looked  into  the  eyepiece,  which  was  so  much  like  that 
of  an  old-fashioned  stereoscope  that  I  felt  that  it,  too, 
ought  to  work  back  and  forth  after  the  manner  of  a 

2  From  an  article  by  Admiral  Selfridge  in  the  "  Outlook." 


n6        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

slide  trombone.  I  found  myself  looking  out  over  the 
broad  blue  waters  of  a  sunlit  bay.  I  noticed  a  squall 
blackening  the  surface  of  the  water,  a  catboat  running 
before  it,  and  the  gleam  of  the  brass  instruments  of  the 
band  playing  on  the  after  deck  of  a  big  white  excursion 
steamer  half  a  mile  away. 

"  I  can  almost  imagine  I  can  hear  the  music  of  that 
band/'  I  exclaimed.  "  The  optical  illusion  is  perfect/' 

"  It  has  to  be,"  rejoined  the  lieutenant.  "If  the  image 
were  in  the  least  distorted  or  out  of  perspective,  we 
could  n't  aim  straight." 

"  What  do  you  do  when  the  periscope  is  wet  with 
spray  ?  "  I  asked  him. 

"  Wash  the  glass  with  a  jet  of  alcohol  and  dry  it  from 
the  inside  with  a  current  of  warm  air  passing  up  and 
down  the  tube.  A  periscope-tube  is  double:  the  outer 
one  passing  through  a  stuffing-box  in  the  hull,  and  the  in- 
ner tube  revolving  inside  it.  The  old-fashioned  single 
tubes  were  too  hard  to  revolve  and  the  resistance  of  the 
water  used  to  bend  them  aft  and  cause  leakage.  We  can 
raise  and  lower  the  periscopes  at  will,  and  all  our  larger 
boats,  have  two  of  them,  so  that  they  can  keep  a  look- " 
out  in  two  directions  at  once,  besides  having  a  spare  eye 
in  case  the  first  is  put  out." 

"  What  are  those  two  little  things  that  big  naval  tug 
is  towing  over  there?  "  I  inquired. 

"  The  target  for  our  torpedo  practice,"  replied  Lieu- 
tenant Scope.  "  We  shall  try  to  put  four  Whiteheads 
between  those  two  buoys  as  the  tug  tows  them  past  at  an 
unknown  range  and  speed.  If  you  step  forward  to  the 
torpedo  room  you  can  see  them  loading  the  tubes." 


A  Trip  in  a  Modern  Submarine     117 

As  I  walked  forward  it  occurred  to  me  that  the  twenty- 
odd  men  on  board  the  X-4  seemed  to  be  moving  about 
inside  her  with  perfect  freedom,  without  disturbing  her 
trim.  I  mentioned  this  to  one  of  the  crew. 

"  It 's  the  trimming-tanks  that  keep  her  level/'  he  ex- 
plained. "  As  we  're  .walking  forward,  our  weight  in 
water  is  being  automatically  pumped  from  the  trimming- 


Courtesy  of  the  Electric  Boat  Company. 

Forward  torpedo-compartment,  U.  S.  Submarine,  showing  breech- 
mechanism  of  four  tubes.  Round  opening  above  is  the  escape- 
hatch. 

tank  in  the  bow  to  the  one  astern.  A  submarine  is  just 
one  blamed  tank  after  another.  Stand  clear  of  that 
chain-fall,  sir ;  they  're  loading  No.  I  tube." 

Stripped  to  the  waist  like  an  old-time  gun-crew,  four 
beautifully  muscled  young  gunner's  mates  were  hoisting, 
with  an  ingenious  arrangement  of  chains  and  pulleys,  a 
torpedo  from  the  magazine.  The  breach  of  the  tube  was 
opened  and  the  long  Whitehead  thrust  in,  two  flanges  on 


ii8        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

its  sides  being  fitted  into  deep  grooves  in  the  sides  of  the 
tube,  so  that  the  torpedo  would  not  spin  like  a  rifle-bullet 
but  be  launched  on  an  even  keel.  The  breach  was  closed, 
and  the  men  stood  by  expectantly. 

"  Skipper 's  up  in  the  conning-tower,  taking  aim 
through  the  periscope/'  explained  the  man  who  had  told 
me  about  trimming-tanks.  "  The  tubes  being  fixed  in  the 
bow,  he  has  to  train  the  whole  boat  like  a  gun.  Likewise 
he  's  got  to  figure  out  how  far  it  is  to  the  target  and  how 
fast  the  tug  is  towing  it,  how  many  seconds  it 's  going  to 
take  the  torpedo  to  get  there,  and  how  much  he  's  got  to 
allow  for  its  being  carried  off  its  course  by  tide  and  cur- 
rents. When  he  gets  good  and  ready,  the  lieutenant  '11 
press  a  little  electric  button  and  you  '11  hear  — " 

"  THUD  !  "  went  the  compressed  air  in  the  tube,  and  the 
submarine  shuddered  slightly  with  the  shock  of  the  re- 
coil. But  that  was  all. 

"  There  she  goes !  "  said  my  friend  the  tank-expert. 
"  As  soon  as  the  Whitehead  was  expelled,  a  compensation- 
tank  just  above  the  tube  was  flooded  with  enough  water 
to  make  good  the  loss  in  weight/' 

"  What  keeps  the  sea-water  from  rushing  into  the  tube 
after  the  torpedo  leaves  it?  "  I  asked. 

"  A  conical-shaped  cap  on  the  bow  of  the  boat  keeps 
both  tubes  closed  except  when  you  want  to  fire  one  of 
them.  Then  the  cap,  which  is  pivoted  on  its  upper  edge, 
swings  to  port  or  starboard  just  long  enough  for  the  tor- 
pedo to  get  clear  and  swings  back  before  the  water  can 
get  in." 

Four  of  the  ten  torpedoes  carried  in  the  magazine  were 
sped  on  their  way  to  the  unseen  target.  I  returned  to 


A  Trip  in  a  Modern  Submarine     119 

the  turret  as  the  wireless  operator  entered  and  handed  a 
typewritten  slip  to  Lieutenant  Scope,  who  smiled  happily 
and  said  to  me, 

"  The  captain  of  the  tug  reports  that  all  four  shots 
were  hits  and  all  four  torpedoes  have  been  safely  re- 
covered/' 

I  was  too  astonished  to  congratulate  him  on  his  marks- 
manship, as  I  should  have  done. 

"  How  in  the  name  of  miracles !  "  I  gasped.  "  Can 
you  receive  a  wireless  telegram  under  the  sea?  " 

"  By  the  Fessenden  oscillator,"  he  replied,  and  added 
to  the  wireless  man, 

"  Take  this  gentleman  below  and  show  him  how  it 
works/' 

"  Did  you  ever  have  another  chap  knock  two  stone  to- 
gether under  water  when  you  were  taking  a  dive?  "  asked 
the  operator.  I  nodded  in  vivid  recollection. 

"  Then  you  have  some  idea  how  sounds  are  magnified 
under  water.  It  is  an  old  idea  to  put  submarine  bells 
down  under  lighthouses  and  fit  ships  with  some  kind  of 
receiver  so  that  the  bells  can  be  heard  and  warning  given 
when  it  is  too  foggy  to  see  the  light.  The  advantage  over 
the  old-style  bell-buoy  lies  in  the  fact  that  sound  travels 
about  four  times  as  fast  through  water  as  through  air,3 
and  goes  further  and  straighter  because  it  is  n't  deflected 
by  winds  or  what  the  aviators  call  '  air-pockets/  The 
man  who  knows  most  about  these  things  is  Professor 
Fessenden,  of  the  Submarine  Signal  Company  of  Boston, 

3  The  velocity  of  sound  in  dry  air  at  a  temperature  of  32  degrees 
Fahrenheit  is  about  1087  feet  a  second,  in  water  at  44  degrees,  about 
4708  feet  a  second. 


12O        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

BBBHBBBB 


Courtesy  of  the  American  Magazine. 

Fessenden  oscillator  outside  the  hull  of  a  ship, 
a  modern  vessel. 


The  "  ear  "  of 


who  first  realized  the  possibility  of  telegraphing  through 
water.4 

"  Fastened  outside  the  hull  of  this  boat  is  one  of  the 
Fessenden  oscillators:  a  steel  disk  eighteen  inches  in 
diameter,  that  can  be  vibrated  very  rapidly  by  electricity. 

4  The  sound  of  the  first  gun  of  the  salute  fired  by  the  Russian  fleet 
in  Cronstadt  harbor  to  celebrate  the  coronation  of  Alexander  II  in 
1855  was  the  signal  for  the  crew  of  the  submerged  submarine  Le 
Diable  Marin  to  begin  singing  the  National  Anthem.  Their  voices, 
accompanied  by  a  band  of  four  pieces,  were  distinctly  heard  above 
the  surface.  This  novel  concert  had  been  planned  by  Wilhelm  Bauer, 
the  designer  of  the  submarine  and  one  of  the  earliest  students  of 
under-water  acoustics.  He  succeeded  in  signaling  from  one  side 
of  the  harbor  to  another  by  striking  a  submerged  piece  of  sheet- 
iron  with  a  hammer. 


A  Trip  in  a  Modern  Submarine      121 

These  vibrations  travel  through  the  water,  like  wireless 
waves  through  the  ether,  till  they  strike  the  oscillator  on 
another  vessel  and  set  it  to  vibrating  in  sympathy.  To 
send  a  message,  I  start  and  stop  the  oscillator  with  this 
key  so  as  to  form  the  dots  and  dashes  of  the  Morse  code. 
To  receive,  I  sit  here  with  these  receivers  over  my  ears 
and  '  listen  in/  just  like  a  wireless  operator,  till  I  pick  up 
our  call  '  X-4/  '  X-4/  " 

"  How  far  can  you  send  a  message  under  water  ?  " 
"  Ten  miles  is  the  furthest  I  Ve  ever  sent  one.     Profes- 
sor Fessenden  has  sent  messages  more  than  thirty  miles. 
The  invention  only  dates  back  to  1913  and  what  it  will 
do  in  the  future,  there  is  no  telling/' 

"  Even  now,  could  n't  a  surface  vessel  act  as  eyes  for 


Courtesy  of  the  American  Magazine. 

Professor  Fessenden   receiving  a  message  sent  through  several 
miles  of  sea-water  by  his  "  Oscillator." 


122        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

a  whole  flotilla  of  submarines  and  tell  them  where  to 
go  and  when  to  strike  by  coaching  them  through  the 
Fessenden  oscillator?  " 

The  operator  nodded. 

"  We  're  doing  it  to-day,  in  practice.  But  don't  forget 
that  an  enemy's  ship  carrying  a  pair  of  oscillators  can 
hear  a  submarine  coming  two  miles  away.  You  can 
make  out  the  beat  of  a  propeller  at  that  distance  every 
time." 

"  But  how  can  you  tell  how  far  away  and  in  what 
direction  it  is?  " 

"  I  can't,  with  a  single  oscillator  like  ours.  But  a  ship 
carries  two  of  them,  one  on  each  side  of  the  hull,  like  the 
ears  on  a  man's  head.  And  just  as  a  man  knows  whether 
a  shout  he  hears  comes  from  the  right  or  left,  because 
he  hears  it  more  with  one  ear  than  the  other,  so  the 
skipper  of  a  surface  craft  can  look  at  the  indicator  that 
registers  the  relative  intensity  of  the  vibrations  received 
by  the  port  and  starboard  oscillators  and  say, 

"  '  There  's  somebody  three  points  off  the  starboard 
bow,  mile  and  three  quarters  away,  and  heading  for  us. 
Nothing  in  sight,  so  it  must  be  one  of  those  blamed  sub- 
marines.' 

"  And  away  he  steams,  full  speed  ahead  and  cutting 
zigzags.  Or  maybe  he  gets  his  rapid-fire  guns  ready  and 
watches  for  Mr.  Submarine  to  rise  —  like  the  X~4  's  do- 
ing now." 

Freed  of  the  dead  weight  of  many  tons  of  sea  water 
blown  from  her  ballast-tanks  by  compressed  air,  the  sub- 
marine rose  to  the  surface  like  a  balloon.  Ventilators 
and  hatch-covers  were  thrown  open  and  we  swarmed  up 


A  Trip  in  a  Modern  Submarine     123 

on  deck  to  fill  our  grateful  lungs  with  the  good  sea  air. 
Three  motor-boats  from  the  tug  throbbed  up  alongside 
with  the  four  torpedoes  we  had  discharged. 

"  Those  boats  wait,  one  this  side  of  the  target,  one  near 
it  and  the  third  over  on  the  far  side,  to  mark  the  shots 
and  catch  the  torpedoes  after  they  rise  to  the  surface  at 
the  end  of  their  run/'  said  Lieutenant  Scope.  "  We  very 
seldom  lose  a  torpedo  nowadays.  They  tell  a  story  about 
one  that  dived  to  the  bottom  and  was  driven  by  the  force 
of  its  own  engines  into  forty  feet  of  soft  mud,  where 
it  stayed  till  it  happened  to  be  dug  up  by  a  dredger/' 

The  four  torpedoes  were  hoisted  aboard,  drained  of 
the  sea  water  that  had  flooded  their  air-chambers,  cleaned 
and  lowered  through  the  torpedo  hatch  forward  down 
into  the  magazine.  By  this  time  the  bridge  and  railing 
were  again  in  place  and  the  flags  fluttering  over  the 
taffrail  as  the  X~4,  her  day's  work  done,  sped  swiftly  up 
the  coast  to  home  and  mother-ship. 


CHAPTER  X 


ACCIDENTS    AND    SAFETY   DEVICES 

VHE  following  submarines,  with  all  or  part  of  their 
crews,  have  been  accidentally  lost  in  time  of  peace : 

Men  Lost 
ii 
26 
14 
M 
13 
13 
20 

13 
14 
26 

3 
14 
24 

15 
3 

none 
ii 
21 

The  A- 1  was  engaged  in  manoeuvers  off  Spithead,  Eng- 
land, when  she  rose  to  the  surface  right  under  the  bows 
of  the  fast-steaming  Union  Castle  Liner  Berwick  Castle. 
Before  anything  could  be  done,  the, sharp  prow  of  the 
steamer  had  cut  a  great  gash  in  the  thin  hull  of  the  sub- 
marine and  sent  her  to  the  bottom  with  all  her  crew. 
This  was  in  broad  daylight;  her  sister-ship  C-n  was 

124 


Date 

Name 

Nationality 

March  18,  1904 

A-  1 

British 

June  20,  1904 

Delfin 

Russian 

June  8,  1905 

A-8 

British 

July  6,  1905 

Farfadet 

French 

October  16,  1906 

Lutin 

French 

April  26,  1909 

Foca 

Italian 

June  12,  1909 

Kambala 

Russian 

July  14,  1909 

C-ii 

British 

April  15,  1910 

No.  6. 

Japanese 

May  26,  1910 

Pluviose 

French 

January  17,  1911 

U-3 

German 

February  2,  1912 

A-3 

British 

June  8,  1912 

Vendemiaire 

French 

October  4,  1912 

B-2 

British 

June  8,  1913 

E-5 

British 

December  10,  1913 

C-i4 

British 

January  16,  1914 

A-7 

British 

March  25,  1915 

F-4 

American 

Accidents  and  Safety  Devices        125 

rammed  and  sunk  by  another  liner  three  years  later,  at 
night.  The  Plumose  of  the  French  navy  escaped  the  bow 
of  an  on-coming  cross-channel  steamer  when  the  subma- 
rine came  up  at  the  entrance  to  Calais  Harbor,  only  to 
have  her  topsides  crushed  in  by  a  blow  from  one  of  the 
paddle-wheels.  Collisions  like  these  are  less  likely  to  hap- 
pen nowadays,  for  the  navigating  officer  of  a  modern  sub- 
marine can  take  a  look  round  the  horizon  through  the 
periscope  from  a  depth  sufficient  to  let  most  steamers 
pass  harmlessly  over  him,  and  in  case  of  darkness  or  fog, 
he  can  detect  the  vibrations  of  approaching  propellers  by 
means  of  the  Fessenden  oscillator  or  some  similar  device. 
Yet  the  frequency  with  which  submarines  have  been  in- 
tentionally rammed  and  sunk  in  the  present  war  shows 
that  they  would  still  be  liable  to  rise  blindly  to  their  de- 
struction in  time  of  peace. 

The  vapor  from  a  leaking  fuel-tank,  making  an  ex- 
plosive mixture  with  the  air  inside  the  submarine  and  set 
off  by  a  spark  from  the  electrical  machinery,  has  caused 
many  accidents  of  another  kind.  Such  an  explosion  took 
place  on  the  original  Holland,  shortly  after  she  was  taken 
into  the  government  service,  but  fortunately  without  kill- 
ing any  one.  As  the  crew  of  the  British  A-$  were  filling 
the  fuel  tanks  of  their  vessel  with  gasoline,  some  of 
them  were  blown  up  through  the  open  hatchway  and  into 
the  sea  by  a  burst  of  flaming  vapor  that  killed  six  men 
and  terribly  injured  twelve  more.  A  rescue  party  that 
entered  the  boat  to  save  the  men  still  left  aboard  had 
several  of  its  own  members  disabled  by  a  second  explosion. 
The  vessel  itself,  however,  was  almost  unharmed.  But 
not  long  afterwards,  another  submarine  of  the  same  ill- 


126        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

fated  class,  the  A-8,  was  lying  off  Plymouth  breakwater 
with  her  hatches  open,  when  the  people  on  shore  heard 
three  distinct  explosions  on  board  her  and  saw  her  sud- 
denly submerge.  Her  crew  evidently  got  the  hatches 
closed  before  she  went  down,  as  they  sent  up  signals  that 
they  were  alive  but  unable  to  rise.  Two  hours  later  a 
fourth  explosion  took  place  and  all  hope  was  abandoned. 

This  danger  has  been  guarded  against  by  better  con- 
struction of  tanks  and  valves,  and  very  greatly  lessened 
by  the  substitution  of  the  heavy  oil  used  in  the  Diesel 
engines  for  the  more  costly  and  volatile  gasoline. 

Besides  igniting  explosive  oil  vapors  with  their  sparks, 
the  old-fashioned  sulphuric  acid  and  -lead  storage  bat- 
teries still  used  in  many  submarines  are  a  great  source  of 
danger  in  themselves.  The  jars  are  too  easily  broken, 
and  the  leaking  acid  eats  into  the  steel  plating  of  the  boat, 
weakening  it  if  not  actually  letting  in  the  sea  water.  And 
if  salt  water  comes  in  contact  with  a  battery  of  this 
type,  then  chlorin  gas  - —  the  same  poisonous  gas  that  the 
Germans  use  against  the  Allies'  trenches  —  is  generated 
and  the  crew  are  in  very  great  danger  of  suffocation. 
The  new  Edison  alkali  storage  battery,  besides  being 
lighter  and  more  durable,  uses  no  acid  and  cannot  give 
off  chlorin  when  saturated  with  sea  water. 

The  remaining  great  danger  is  that  a  submarine  may 
get  out  of  control  and  submerge  too  quickly,  so  that  it 
either  strikes  the  bottom,  at  the  risk  of  being  crushed  in 
or  entangled,  or  descends  to  so  great  a  depth  that  its 
sides  are  forced  in  by  the  pressure  of  the  water  outside, 
which  also  prevents  the  submarine  from  discharging  the 
water  in  its  ballast  tanks  and  escaping  to  the  surface. 


O      ,1. 

o  2 

II 

3 I  5- 
I'-°o 


H! 

$  § 

O      "I 

f 


The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

Detachable  safety  weights  and  keels  to  lighten  the  boat 
in  such  an  emergency  date  back  to  the  time  of  Bushnell 
and  J.  Day.  A  more  modern  device  is  to  have  a  hydro- 
static valve  (see  page  51)  set  to  correspond  with  the 
pressure  of  a  certain  depth  of  water,  so  that  if  the  sub- 
marine goes  below  this  the  valve  will  be  forced  in  and 
automatically  "  blow  the  tanks/' 

A  submarine  that  sank  too  deep  was  the  No.  6,  of  the 
Imperial  Japanese  navy,  which  disappeared  while  manoeu- 
vering  in  Hiroshima  Bay,  on  April  15,  1910.  When  she 
was  found,  her  entire  crew  lay  dead  at  their  stations,  and 
in  the  conning-tower,  beside  the  body  of  the  commander, 
was  the  following  letter  written  by  that  officer,  Lieutenant 
Takuma  Faotomu: 

"  Although  there  is  indeed  no  excuse  to  make  for  the 
sinking  of  his  Imperial  Majesty's  boat,  and  for  the  do- 
ing away  of  subordinates  through  my  heedlessness,  all  on 
board  the  boat  have  discharged  their  duties  well  and  in 
everything  acted  calmly  until  death.  Although  we  are 
dying  in  the  pursuance  of  our  duty  to  the  State,  the  only 
regret  we  have  is  due  to  anxiety  lest  the  men  of  the  world 
misunderstand  the  matter,  and  that  thereby  a  blow  may 
be  given  to  the  future  development  of  the  submarine. 

"  Gentlemen,  we  hope  you  will  be  increasingly  diligent 
and  not  fail  to  appreciate  the  cause  of  the  accident,  and 
that  you  will  devote  your  entire  energy  to  investigate 
everything  and  so  secure  the  future  development  of  sub- 
marines. If  this  be  done  we  have  nothing  to  regret. 

"  While  going  through  gasoline  submerged  exercises 
we  submerged  too  far,  and  when  we  attempted  to  shut 
the  sluice-valve,  the  chain  broke. 


Accidents  and  Safety  Devices        129 

"  Then  we  tried  to  close  the  sluice-valve  by  hand,  but 
it  was  too  late,  for  the  afterpart  was  full  of  water,  and 
the  boat  sank  at  an  angle  of  about  twenty-five  degrees. 
The  boat  came  to  rest  at  an  incline  of  about  twelve  de- 
grees, pointing  towards  the  stern.  The  switchboard  be- 
ing under  water  the  electric  lights  went  out.  Offensive 
gas  developed  and  breathing  became  difficult.  The  boat 
sank  about  10  A.M.  on  the  I5th,  and  though  suffering  at 
the  time  from  this  offensive  gas,  we  endeavored  to  expel 
the  water  by  hand  pumps.  As  the  vessel  went  down  we 
expelled  the  water  from  the  main  tank.  As  the  light  has 
gone  out  the  gage  cannot  be  seen,  but  we  know  the  water 
has  been  expelled  from  the  main  tank. 

"  We  cannot  use  the  electric  current  at  all.  The  bat- 
tery is  leaking  but  no  salt  water  has  reached  it  and 
chlorin  gas  has  not  developed.  We  only  rely  on  the 
hand  pump  now. 

"  The  above  was  written  under  the  light  of  the  con- 
ning-tower,  at  about  11.45  o'clock.  We  are  now  soaked 
by  the  water  that  has  made  its  way  in.  Our  clothes  are 
wet  and  we  feel  cold.  I  had  been  accustomed  to  warn  my 
shipmates  that  their  behavior  (in  an  emergency)  should 
be  calm  and  deliberate,  as  well  as  brave,  yet  not  too 
deliberate,  lest  work  be  retarded.  People  may  be  tempted 
to  ridicule  this  after  this  failure,  but  I  am  perfectly  con- 
fident that  my  words  have  not  been  mistaken. 

"  The  depth  gage  of  the  conning-tower  indicates  52 
feet,  and  despite  our  efforts  to  expel  the  water  the  pump 
stopped  and  would  not  work  after  12  o'clock.  The  depth 
in  this  neighborhood  being  ten  fathoms,  the  reading  may 
be  correct. 


130        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

"  The  officers  and  men  of  submarines  should  be  chosen 
from  the  bravest  of  the  brave  or  there  will  be  annoyances 
in  cases  like  this.  Happily  all  the  members  of  this  crew 
have  discharged  their  duties  well  and  I  am  satisfied. 
I  have  always  expected  death  whenever  I  left  my  home, 
and  therefore  my  will  is  already  in  the  drawer  at  Kara- 
saki.  (This  remark  applies  only  to  my  private  affairs 
and  is  really  superfluous.  Messrs.  Taguchi  and  Asami 
will  please  inform  my  father  of  this.) 

"  I  respectfully  request  that  none  of  the  families  left 
by  my  subordinates  suffer.  The  only  thing  I  am  anxious 
about  is  this. 

"Atmospheric  pressure  is  increasing  and  I  feel  as  if 
my  tympanum  were  breaking. 

"  12.30  o'clock.  Respiration  is  extraordinarily  diffi- 
cult. I  mean  I  am  breathing  gasoline.  I  am  intoxi- 
cated with  gasoline. 

"  It  is  12.40  o'clock/' 

Those  were  the  last  words  written  by  Lieutenant 
Takuma  Faotomu,  bravest  of  the  brave. 

Very  many  ingenious  devices  have  been  invented  to 
enable  the  crew  of  a  stranded  submarine  to  escape.  The 
best-known  and  most  widely  used  is  some  form  of  the 
air-lock  or  diver's  chamber,  as  described  in  the  chapter  on 
the  Lake  boats.  Through  this  the  crew  can  pass  in  suc- 
cession to  the  water  outside  and  swim  to  the  surface.  If 
the  depth  is  so  great  that  an  unprotected  swimmer  would 
be  crushed  by  the  weight  of  water  above  him,  there  is  a 
great  variety  of  safety-helmets,  and  of  jackets  with 
mouth-pieces  leading  to  tanks  containing  enough  air  un- 
der moderate  pressure  to  inflate  the  lungs  and  cheeks  so 


Accidents  and  Safety  Devices        131 

that  the  internal  pressure  of  the  body  will  counteract  that 
of  the  water.  An  escaping  seaman,  burdened  with  such 
a  device,  cannot  rise  unaided  to  the  surface  but  must 
climb  or  be  hauled  up  by  a  rope  let  down  from  above. 
Moreover,  he  must  not  ascend  too  rapidly,  or  the  pressure 
within  his  body  will  dangerously  exceed  that  without, 
as  if  he  had  been  suddenly 
picked  up  at  the  seashore  and 
carried  to  the  top  of  the 
Andes.  The  human  body  is 
too  delicate  and  elaborate  a 
structure  to  be  carelessly 
turned  into  a  compressed-air 
tank.  The  surplus  oxygen 
forms  bubbles  which  try  to 
force  their  way  out  through 
the  tissues  of  the  body,  caus- 
ing intense  pain,  and  possibly 
paralysis  or  death.  To  avoid 
this,  divers  are  brought  up 
from  any  great  depth  by 
slow  and  careful  stages,  un- 
less they  can  be  placed  at 
once  in  specially-constructed 

tanks  on  shore,  where  the  pressure  they  are  under  can  be 
gradually  reduced  to  normal. 

A  covered  lifeboat  carried  in  a  socket  on  the  sub- 
marine's deck,  so  that  in  case  of  accidental  stranding  the 
crew  could  get  into  the  small  boat  from  below,  close  the 
hatch  cover,  release  the  lifeboat  from  within,  and  rise 
safely  and  comfortably  to  the  surface,  was  an  attractive 


\ 


Courtesy  of  the  Scientific  American. 

One  Type  of   Safety- jacket. 


132        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

feature  of  the  Plongeitr  in  1863,  and  of  many  projected 
but  unbuilt  submarines  since  then.  A  detachable  con- 
ning-tower,  containing  a  small  lifeboat  that  could  be 
launched  after  the  safety  compartment  had  risen  to  the 
surface,  has  also  been  designed  and  patented  more  than 
once.  Theoretically,  these  devices  seem  admirable  but 
naval  architects  will  have  none  of  them.  The  reason  for 
this  is  very  simple.  A  submarine  is  primarily  a  warship, 
an  instrument  of  destruction,  and  its  carrying  capacity 
is  too  limited  to  permit  several  hundredweight  of  tor- 
pedoes or  supplies  being  crowded  out  by  a  lifeboat  or  a 
score  of  safety-helmets.  A  divers'  compartment  and  one 
or  two  ordinary  diving-suits  —  for  these  things  are  of 
military  value  —  and  a  buoy  that  can  be  sent  up  to  mark 
the  spot  where  the  boat  has  gone  down  are  as  much  as 
you  can  expect  to  find  in  the  average  naval  submarine. 

One  of  the  most  instructive  accidents  that  ever  hap- 
pened to  an  undersea  boat  was  the  loss  and  rescue  of  the 
German  C7-J.  She  sank  to  the  bottom  of  Kiel  Harbor 
on  January  17,  1911.  A  small  spherical  buoy  was  re- 
leased and  rose  to  the  surface,  where  it  was  picked  up 
and  a  telephone  attached  to  the  end  of  the  thin  wire 
cable. 

"Hello!" 

"  Hello !  This  is  the  captain  of  the  [7-j  speaking. 
We  cannot  rise,  but  we  are  resting  easy  and  have  air 
enough  to  last  forty-eight  hours/' 

"  Good.  The  steam  salvage-dock  Vulcan  has  been 
sent  for  and  will  be  here  before  then,  Herr  Kapitan." 

But  before  the  Vulcan  arrived,  it  occurred  to  some  one 
in  authority  to  attempt  to  raise  the  C7-J  with  a  large  float- 


Accidents  and  Safety  Devices        133 

ing  crane  then  available.  The  strong  steel  chain  ready 
coiled  at  the  lower  end  of  the  buoy-line  was  drawn  up 
and  made  fast  to  the  crane,  which  could  not  lift  the  300- 
ton  submarine  bodily,  but  succeeded  in  hauling  up  its  bow 
sufficiently  for  the  twenty-seven  petty  officers  and  sea- 
men on  board  the  U-$  to  be  shot  up  through  the  torpedo 
tube  to  the  surface.  The  captain  and  his  two  lieutenants 
chose  to  remain.  Shortly  afterwards  the  chain  slipped 
and  broke  off  one  of  the  boat's  ventilators,  letting  water 
into  the  hull  and  drowning  all  three  officers. 

Then  the  sea-going,  steam  salvage-dock  Vulcan 
reached  the  scene  and  brought  the  C7-J  to  the  surface  in 
three  hours. 

"  The  Vulcan  is  a  double-hulled  vessel,  230  feet  in 
length  with  a  lifting  capacity  of  500  tons.  The  width 
between  the  two  hulls  is  sufficient  to  admit  with  good 
clearance  the  largest  submarines.  At  a  suitable  height 
a  shelf  is  formed  along  each  wall  of  the  interior  opening, 
and  upon  this  rests  the  removable  floor  of  the  dock.  The 
two  hulls  of  the  ship  are  each  built  with  water-tight  com- 
partments of  large  capacity,  similar  to  those  which  are 
found  in  the  side  walls  of  the  ordinary  floating  dock. 
When  a  sunken  submarine  is  to  be  raised,  the  Vulcan 
steams  to  the  wreck  and  is  moored  securely  in  position 
above  it.  Spanning  the  well  between  the  two  hulls  are 
two  massive  gantry  cranes,  each  provided  with  heavy 
lifting  tackle  driven  by  electric  motors.  The  first  opera- 
tion is  to  fill  the  compartments  until  the  vessel  has  sunk 
to  the  required  depth.  The  floor  of  the  dock  is  then 
moved  clear  of  the  well.  The  lifting  tackles  are  now 
lowered  and  made  fast,  either  to  chains  which  have  been 


134        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

slung  around  the  body  of  the  submarine,  or  to  two 
massive  eyebolts  which  are  permanently  riveted  into  the 
submarine's  hull.  At  the  order  to  hoist  away,  the  sub- 
marine is  lifted  free  from  the  mud  and  drawn  up  within 
the  well,  until  its  bottom  is  clear  of  the  supporting  shelves 
on  the  inner  faces  of  the  two  hulls,  above  referred  to. 

The  dock  floor  is 
then  placed  in  posi- 
tion on  the  shelves, 
the  water  is  pumped 
out  of  the  two  hulls, 
and  the  Vulcan 
rises,  lifting  the 
submarine  and  the 
dock  floor  clear  of 
the  water."  * 

A  similar  vessel 
was  built  by  the 
French  government 
as  a  result  of  public 
indignation  over  the 
delay  in  raising  the 
sunken  Plumose. 
Great  Britain  has  a  salvage  dock  with  a  lifting  capacity 
of  1000  tons.  But  the  most  remarkable  craft  of  this 
kind  belongs  to  Italy  and  was  designed  by  the  famous 
engineer  Major  Cesare  Laurenti,  technical  director  of  the 
Fiat-San  Giorgio  works,  builders  of  some  of  the  world's 
best  submarines.  She  is  a  twin-hulled  vessel,  fitted  not 
only  to  pick  a  sunken  submarine  from  the  sea  bottom,  but 
1 "  Scientific  American,"  January  28,  1911,  page  87. 


Courtesy  of  the  Scientific  American. 

The  l/ulcan  salvaging  the  U-3. 


Accidents  and  Safety  Devices        135 

to  care  for  it  in  every  way,  for  she  is  also  a  floating  dry- 
dock,  capable  of  repairing  two  of  the  largest  subma- 
rines, besides  being  a  fully  equipped  mother-ship  for  a 
flotilla  of  six.  With  the  ends  of  her  central  tunnel  closed 
by  a  false  stem  and  stern,  and  propelled  by  twin  screws 
driven  by  powerful  Diesel  engines,  she  is  a  fast  and  sea- 
worthy vessel,  capable  of  keeping  company  writh  her  flotilla 
on  a  surface  cruise.  She  carries  a  sufficient  armament  of 
quick-firing  guns  to  beat  off  a  hostile  destroyer.  But  the 
most  noteworthy  feature  of  the  Laurenti  dock  is  a  long 
steel  cylinder,  capable  of  enduring  great  pressure  from 
within,  that  is  used  to  test  the  resisting  strength  of  new 
submarines.  A  new  boat,  or  a  section  of  a  proposed  new 
type,  is  placed  in  this  tube,  which  is  filled  with  water  that 
is  then  compressed  by  pumps,  reproducing  the  effect  of 
submergence  to  any  desired  depth. 

The  United  States  navy  tests  each  new  submarine  built 
for  it  by  actually  lowering  the  boat,  with  no  one  in  it, 
to  a  depth  of  200  feet.  We  have  no  Laurenti  dock,  no 
Vulcan,  no  sea-going  salvage  dock  of  any  kind.  The 
tender  Fulton  has  a  powerful  crane,  but  she  cannot  be 
on  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts  and  in  the  Far  East, 
simultaneously. 

"  The  difficulties  encountered  in  raising  the  sunken 
British  submarine  A-j,"  wrote  Mr.  R.  G.  Skerrett  in  the 
"  Scientific  American  "  some  years  ago,  "  have  in  them 
a  note  of  warning  for  us.  We  are  steadily  adding  to 
our  flotilla  of  under-water  boats,  and  yet  we  have  no 
proper  facilities  in  the  government  service  for  the 
prompt  salvage  of  any  of  these  boats  should  they  be 
carried  suddenly  to  the  bottom.  We  have  been  fortu- 


136        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

nate  so  far  in  escaping  serious  accidents,  but  that  is 
no  reason  for  assuming  that  we  are  any  more  likely 
to  be  immune  from  disaster  than  any  other  naval  serv- 
ice. We  should  profit  by  the  catastrophes  which  have 
befallen  England,  Russia,  France,  Germany,  and  Japan, 
and  no  longer  continue  unprepared  for  kindred  mis- 
haps." 2 

We  refused  to  profit  and  we  continued  unprepared. 
Then  came  a  brief  official  cablegram  from  Hawaii, 
"Honolulu,  March  25,  1915.  U.  S.  submarine  F-4  left 
tender  at  9  A.M.  for  submerged  run.  Failed  to  re- 
turn to  surface/' 

The  other  two  submarines  on  the  station  and  motor- 
boats  from  the  tender  Alert  -cruised  about  till  they  found 
the  spot  where  oil  and  air-bubbles  were  coming  to  the 
surface.  Two  tugs  then  swept  the  bottom  with  a  two- 
thousand  foot  sweep  of  chains  and  wire  cables,  which 
caught  early  the  next  morning  on  what  proved  to  be  the 
lost  submarine,  in  three  hundred  feet  of  water,  about 
a  mile  and  a  half  outside  the  entrance  to  Honolulu  Har- 
bor. 

For  twenty- four  hours  or  so  the  navy  department 
held  out  the  hope  that  the  men  on  board  her  were  still 
alive  and  might  be  rescued.  But  there  was  nothing 
ready  to  rescue  them  with.  Three  weeks  were  spent  in 
building  the  windlasses  for  an  improvised  salvage-dock 
made  out  of  two  mud  scows.  In  the  meanwhile,  a  de- 
tachment of  the  department's  most  skilled  divers  were 
sent  out  from  the  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard.  With  their 
aid,  strong  wire  cables  were  passed  under  the  submarine's 

2  "  Scientific  American,"  November  23,  1912. 


Accidents  and  Safety  Devices        137 

hull.  While  engaged  on  this  work,  one  of  the  divers, 
Chief  Gunner's  Mate  Frank  Crilley,  broke  all  deep  sub- 
mergence records  by  descending  to  a  depth  of  288  feet. 
As  a  result,  his  lungs  were  severely  injured  and  he  soon 
afterwards  developed  pneumonia. 

The  wire  ropes  chafed  through  and  were  replaced  by 
chains.  Then  the  F-#  was  lifted  from  the  bottom  and 
towed  inshore  to  a  depth  of  fifty  feet.  Here  a  heavy 
storm  set  in  and  the  lines  had  to  be  cast  off.  Six  big 
cylindrical-shaped  pontoons  were  then  built  at  San  Fran- 
cisco and  brought  out  to  Honolulu  on  the  cruiser  Mary- 
land. Divers  passed  fresh  chains  under  the  F-q,  the  pon- 
toons were  sunk  on  either  side  of  her,  and  coupled  to- 
gether. Then  the  water- was  blown  out  of  the  pontoons 
by  compressed-air  piped  down  from  above,  the  F-$  was 
raised  to  the  surface,  and  towed  into  dry  dock. 

No  decipherable  written  record  was  discovered  inside 
her  hull,  which  was  filled  with  sand  washed  in  through 
a  large  hole  made  in  the  plating  by  the  chafing  of  the 
chains.  But  the  story  of  the  disaster  was  written  in  the 
plates  and  rivets  of  the  vessel  herself,  and  skilfully  de- 
duced and  reconstructed  by  a  board  of  inquiry,  headed 
by  Rear-Admiral  Boush.  Their  report,  which  was  not 
made  public  till  October  27,  told  dramatically  how  the 
corroded  condition  of  the  lead  lining  in  the  battery  tanks 
had  let  the  acid  eat  away  the  rivets  in  the  port  wall  of 
the  forward  tank.  Salt  water  thus  entered  part  of  the 
battery,  producing  chlorin  gas,  which  exploded  violently, 
admitting  more  water,  till  the  submarine  began  to  sink 
by  the  head,  in  spite  of  the  raising  of  her  diving-rudders. 

"  Automatic  blow   was   tripped,   and   blow   valve   on 


138        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

auxiliary  tank  opened  in  the  endeavor  to  check  downward 
momentum.  Maneuvering  with  propellers  probably 
took  place.  The  appreciable  length  of  time  requisite 
for  air  to  build  up  in  ballast  tanks  for  the  expulsion 
of  sufficient  quantities  of  water  resulted  in  the  vessel 
reaching  crushing  depth. 

"  Seams  of  the  vessel  began  to  open,  and  probably 
through  open  torpedo  tubes  and  seams  water  entered  the 
vessel  and  a  condition  of  positive  buoyancy  was  never 
attained. 

"  There  followed  actual  disaster.  The  vessel  began 
filling  with  water.  The  personnel  abandoned  stations 
and  many  sought  refuge  in  the  engine  room,  closing  the 
door.  Under  great  pressure  the  engine  room  bulkhead 
failed  suddenly,  leaving  the  vessel  on  the  bottom,  com- 
pletely flooded." 

All  the  boats  of  the  "  F  "  class  had  already  been  with- 
drawn from  the  service,  by  order  of  Secretary  Daniels. 
Their  place  at  Honolulu  was  taken  by  four  boats  of  the 
"  K"  class,  which  made  the  2100  mile  voyage  out  from 
San  Francisco  under  their  own  power. 


CHAPTER  XI 

MINES 

THE  MINE  SWEEPERS 

"  Ware  mine !  " 

"  Starboard  your  helm/'  .  .  .  "  Full  speed  ahead !  " 
The  squat  craft  duly  swings  — 
A  hand's  breadth  off,  a  thing  of  dread 
The  sullen  breaker  flings. 

Carefully,  slowly,  patiently, 

The  men  of  Grimsby  Town 

Grope  their  way  on  the  rolling  sea  — 

The  storm-swept,  treacherous,  gray  North  Sea  — 

Keeping  the  death-rate  down. 

—  H.  INGAMELLS,  in  the  "  London  Spectator." 

A  MINE  is  a  torpedo  that  has  no  motive-power  of 
its  own  but  is  either  anchored  or  set  adrift  in  the 
supposed  path  of  an  enemy's  ship.  We  have  already 
seen  how  Bushnell  used  drifting  mines  at  Philadelphia 
in  1777.  Anchored  mines  are  among  the  many  inven- 
tions of  Robert  Fulton.  The  following  description  of 
the  original  type,  illustrated  by  an  engraving  made  by 
himself,  is  taken  from  Fulton's  "  Torpedo  War  and  Sub- 
marine Explosions." 

"  Plate   II   represents  the  anchored  torpedo,   so   ar- 
ranged as  to  blow  up  a  vessel  which  should  run  against 

139 


140        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

it;  B  is  a  copper  case  two  feet  long,  twelve  inches  di- 
ameter, capable  of  containing  one  hundred  pounds  of 
powder.  A  is  a  brass  box,  in  which  there  is  a  lock  simi- 
lar to  a  common  gun  lock,  with  a  barrel  two  inches 
long,  to  contain  a  musket  charge  of  powder:  the  box, 


Fulton's  Anchored  Torpedoes. 

with  the  lock  cocked  and  barrel  charged,  is  screwed  to 
the  copper  case  B.  H  is  a  lever  which  has  a  communi- 
cation to  the  lock  inside  of  the  box,  and  in  its  present 
state  holds  the  lock  cocked  and  ready  to  fire.  C  is  a 
deal  box  filled  with  cork,  and  tied  to  the  case  B.  The 
object  of  the  cork  is  to  render  the  torpedo  about  fifteen 


Mines  141 

or  twenty  pounds  specifically  lighter  than  water,  and 
give  it  a  tendency  to  rise  to  the  surface.  It  is  held  down 
to  any  given  depth  under  water  by  a  weight  of  fifty  or 
sixty  pounds  as  at  F:  there  is  also  a  small  anchor  G,  to 
prevent  a  strong  tide  moving  it  from  its  position.  With 
torpedoes  prepared,  and  knowing  the  depth  of  water 
in  all  our  bays  and  harbors,  it  is  only  necessary  to  fix 
the  weight  F  at  such  a  distance  from  the  torpedo,  as 
when  thrown  into  the  water,  F  will  hold  it  ten,  twelve,  or 
fifteen  feet  below  the  surface  at  low  water,  it  will  then  be 
more  or  less  below  the  surface  at  high  water,  or  at 
different  times  of  the  tide;  but  it  should  never  be  so 
deep  as  the  usual  draft  of  a  frigate  or  ship-of-the-line. 
When  anchored,  it  will,  during  the  flood  tide,  stand  in  its 
present  position ;  at  slack  water  it  will  stand  perpendicular 
to  the  weight  F,  as  at  D;  during  the  ebb  it  will  be  at  E. 
At  ten  feet  under  water  the  waves,  in  boisterous 
weather,  would  have  little  or  no  tendency  to  disturb  the 
torpedo;  for  that  if  the  hollow  of  a  wave  should  sink 
ten  feet  below  what  would  be  the  calm  surface,  the  wave 
would  run  twenty  feet  high,  which  I  believe  is  never  the 
case  in  any  of  our  bays  and  harbors.  All  the  experi- 
ence which  I  have  on  this  kind  of  torpedo  is,  that  in  the 
month  of  October,  1805,  I  had  one  of  them  anchored 
nine  feet  under  water,  in  the  British  Channel  near  Dover; 
the  weather  was  severe,  the  waves  ran  high,  it  kept  its 
position  for  twenty- four  hours,  and,  when  taken  up,  the 
powder  was  dry  and  the  lock  in  good  order.  The  tor- 
pedo thus  anchored,  it  is  obvious,  that  if  a  ship  in  sail- 
ing should  strike  the  lever  H,  the  explosion  would  be  in- 
stantaneous, and  she  be  immediately  destroyed;  hence, 


142        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

to  defend  our  bays  or  harbors,  let  a  hundred,  or  more  if 
necessary,  of  these  engines  be  anchored  in  the  channel, 
as  for  example,  the  Narrows,  to  defend  New  York. 

"  The  figure  to  the  right  of  the  plate  is  an  end  view  of 
the  torpedo.  H-H  shews  its  lever  forked,  to  give  the 
better  chance  of  being  struck. 

"  Having  described  this  instrument  in  a  way  which 
I  hope  will  be  understood/'  continues  Fulton,  "  I  may  be 
permitted  to  put  the  following  question  to  my  reader, 
which  is:  Knowing  that  the  explosion  of  one  hundred 
pounds  of  powder,  or  more  if  required,  under  the  bot- 
tom of  a  ship-of-the-line,  would  destroy  her,  and  seeing, 
that  if  a  ship  in  sailing  should  strike  the  lever  of  an 
anchored  torpedo,  she  would  be  blown  up,  would  he  have 
the  courage,  or  shall  I  say  the  temerity,  to  sail  into  a 
channel  where  one  or  more  hundred  of  such  engines  were 
anchored?  I  rely  on  each  gentleman's  sense  of  prudence 
and  self-preservation,  to  answer  this  question  to  my  satis- 
faction. Should  the  apprehension  of  danger  become  as 
strong  on  the  minds  of  those  who  investigate  this  subject 
as  it  is  on  mine,  we  may  reasonably  conclude  that  the 
same  regard  to  self-preservation  will  make  an  enemy  cau- 
tious in  approaching  waters  where  such  engines  are 
placed;  for  however  brave  sailors  may  be,  there  is  no 
danger  so  distressing  to  the  mind  of  a  seaman,  or  so 
calculated  to  destroy  his  confidence,  as  that  which  is  in- 
visible and  instantaneous  destruction/' 

But  Admiral  Farragut  at  Mobile  Bay,  half  a  century 
later,  did  have  the  "  temerity  to  sail  into  a  channel  where 
one  or  more  hundred  of  such  engines  were  anchored." 
The  monitor  Tecumseh  struck  and  exploded  a  mine  that 


Mines  143 

sent  her  to  the  bottom  with  almost  her  entire  crew. 
The  rest  of  the  fleet  began  to  waver  when,  from  the 
main-rigging  of  the  Hartford  Farragut  shouted  his  im- 
mortal command: 

"  Full  steam  ahead !     Damn  the  torpedoes !  " 
As  the  flagship  led  the  way  through  the  mine  field, 
those  on  board  heard  mine  after  mine  bump  against  her 
bottom,  but  though  the  levers  were  struck  and  the  primers 


Sinking  of  the  U.   S.   S.   Tecumseh,  by  a  Confederate 
mine,  in  Mobile  Bay. 

snapped,  the  powder-charges  failed  to  explode.  Hastily 
improvised  out  of  beer-kegs  and  other  receptacles,  with 
tin  or  iron  covers  that  became  rusty  and  useless  soon 
after  they  were  placed  under  water,  many  of  the  Con- 
federate mines  were  in  this  respect  inferior  to  the  well- 
built  copper  torpedoes  of  Fulton.  Yet  crude  as  they 
were,  they  destroyed  more  than  forty  Northern  warships, 
transports,  and  supply  vessels. 


144        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

Percussion-caps  instead  of  flintlocks  were  now  used 
to  explode  contact  mines.  A  new  type  of  anchored 
torpedo,  set  off  by  an  electric  spark  through  a  wire  run- 
ning to  an  operator  on  shore,  was  also  a  favorite  with  the 
Confederates.  Because  they  are  exploded  not  by  contact 
with  the  ship's  hull  but  by  the  closing  of  the  circuit  by 
the  operator  when  he  observes  an  enemy's  vessel  to  be 
above  one  of  them,  these  are  called  "  observation  mines." 
In  the  Civil  War,  many  effective  mines  of  this  sort  were 


From  Scharf  'a  History  of  the  Confederate  States  Navy. 

A  Confederate  "Keg-Torpedo." 

made  out  of  whisky  demijohns.  One  of  these  blew  up 
the  gunboat  Cairo,  in  the  Yazoo  River,  in  the  autumn 
of  1862.  The  double-ended,  river  gunboat  Commodore 
Jones  was  blown  to  pieces  by  an  observation  mine,  whose 
operator  was  subsequently  captured  and  tied  to  the  cut- 
water of  another  Federal  gunboat  as  a  warning  and  a 
hostage.  During  the  bombardment  of  Fort  Sumter  by 
the  United  States  fleet  in  1863,  the  New  Ironsides  lay 
for  an  hour  directly  above  an  observation  mine  made  of 
boiler  iron  and  containing  a  ton  of  gunpowder  but  which 


Mines  145 

failed  to  explode  despite  all  the  efforts  of  the  operator. 
He  was  naturally  accused  of  treachery  and  it  would  have 
gone  hard  with  him  had  it  not  been  discovered,  soon 
after  the  New  Ironsides  ceased  firing  and  stood  out  to 
sea,  that  the  shore  end  of  the  wire  had  been  severed  by 
the  wheel  of  an  ammunition  wagon. 

During  the  Franco-Prussian  War,  the  powerful  French 
fleet  blockaded  the  German  coast  but  did  not  attack  the 
shore  batteries,  which  were  well  protected  by  mines. 


17.  8.  EBON-CLAD  "CAIBO"  (BLOWN  UP  BY  CONFEDERATE  TOBPEDO). 
From  Scharf's  History  of  the  Confederate  States  Navy. 

First  Warship  Destroyed  by  a  Mine. 

After  peace  was  declared  the  foreign  consuls  at  one  of 
the  North  German  seaports  congratulated  the  burgomas- 
ter on  having  planted  and  taken  up  so  many  mines  with- 
out a  single  accident.  Unknown  to  any  one,  the  pru- 
dent burgomaster  had  unloaded  them  first,  and  they  kept 
the  French  away  just  as  well. 

In  the  Spanish-American  War,  Admiral  Dewey  was 
able  to  enter  Manila  Bay  and  destroy  the  Spanish  squad- 
ron there  because  its  commander  "  had  repeatedly  asked 


146        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

for  torpedoes  (mines)  from  Madrid,  but  had  received 
none  and  his  attempts  to  make  them  had  been  failures."  l 
It  was  the  mine  fields  and  not  the 
feeble  shore  batteries  that  kept 
Sampson's  fleet  out  of  Havana  and 
Santiago.  At  Guantanamo,  now  a 
United  States  naval  station,  the 
Texas  and  the  Marblehead  each 
"  struck  her  propeller  against  a  con- 
tact mine,  which  failed  to  explode 
only  because  it  was  incrusted  with 
a  thick  growth  of  barnacles.  Grati- 
tude for  the  vessels'  escape  may 
fairly  be  divided  between  divine 
care  to  which  the  gallant  and  devout 
Captain  Philip  attributed  it  in  his 
report,  and  the  Spaniards'  neglect 
to  maintain  a  proper  inspection  of 
these  defenses.  A  number  of  these 
torpedoes,  which  were  of  French 
manufacture,  and  contained  forty- 
six  and  a  half  kilograms  (one  hun- 
dred and  two  pounds)  of  guncotton, 
were  afterward  dragged  up  in  the  channel."  2 

At  the  siege  of  Port  Arthur  in  1904,  the  Japanese  fleet 
planted  mines  outside  the  harbor  to  keep  the  Russians  in, 
and  the  Russians  came  out  and  planted  mines  of  their 
own  to  entrap  the  blockaders.  While  engaged  in  this 
work,  the  Russian  mine-layer  Yenisei  had  a  mine  which 

1  Titherington's  History  of  the  Spanish-American  War,  p.  139. 

2  Ibid.,  page  202. 


From  Scharf's  History  of  the  Con- 
federate States  Navy. 

A  Confederate  "  Buoy- 
ant Torpedo "  or 
Contact-mine. 


Mines  147 

had  just  been  lowered  through  her  specially  constructed 
sternports  thrown  by  a  wave  against  her  rudder,  and 
was  blown  to  atoms  by  the  consequent  explosion  of  three 
hundred  more  in  her  hold.  The  flagship  Petropavlosk, 
returning  from  a  sortie  on  April  13,  struck  a  Japanese  con- 
tact-mine and  went  down  with  the  loss  of  six  hundred 
men,  including  Vereshchagin,  the  famous  painter  of  war- 
scenes,  and  Admiral  Makaroff,  who  was  not  only  the 
commander  but  the  heart  and  soul  of  the  Russian  fleet.3 
A  month  later,  another  mine  cost  the  Japanese  their  finest 
battleship,  the  Hatsuse.  Nor  was  the  loss  confined  either 
to  the  belligerents  or  to  the  duration  of  the  war.  Nearly 
one  hundred  Chinese  and  other  neutral  merchant  vessels 
were  sunk  by  some  of  the  many  mines  torn  loose  from 
their  anchors  by  storms  to  drift,  the  least  noticeable  and 
most  terrible  of  derelicts,  over  all  the  seas  of  the  Far 
East,  long  after  peace  was  declared. 

The  same  thing  on  a  larger  scale  will  doubtless  take 
place  as  a  result  of  the  present  European  War.  From 
the  Baltic  to  the  Dardanelles,  both  sides  have  sown  the 
waters  thick  with  contact  mines,  hundreds  of  which  have 
already  broken  loose  and  been  cast  up  on  the  shores  of 
Denmark,  Holland,  and  other  neutral  lands.  How  many 
more  have  been  picked  up  on  the  coasts  of  the  different 
belligerent  countries,  the  military  censors  have  naturally 
kept  a  close  secret ;  how  many  of  these  infernal  machines 
are  now  drifting  about  the  North  Sea,  the  North  At- 
lantic, and  the  Mediterranean  it  is  impossible  to  compute. 
Scarcely  a  week  passes  without  the  publication  of  such 

3  He  had  done  notable  work  with  mines  himself,  during  the  Russo- 
Turkish  War  of  1878. 


148        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

news  items  as  the  following  extracts  from  "  Current 
events  in  Norway,"  in  the  "  American-Scandinavian  Re- 
view "  for  July-August*  1915  : 

"  One  hundred  and  fifty  mines  had  been  brought  into 
Bergen  up  to  April  12.  The  steamer  Caprivi  of  Ber- 
gen, which  sank  after  being  struck  by  a  mine  off  the 
coast  of  Ireland,  was  on  its  way  from  Baltimore  with  a 
cargo  of  4150  tons  of  grain,  the  property  of  the  Nor- 
wegian government.  .  .  .  The  German  government  has 
declared  its  willingness  to  comply  with  the  demand  of  the 
Norwegian  government  for  compensation  for  the  Bel- 
ridge,  provided  it  be  proved  that  the  sinking  of  the 
steamer  was  the  result  of  a  German  torpedo.  The  pieces 
of  the  shell  found  in  the  side  of  the  vessel  are  to  be  sent 
to  the  German  government,  and  in  case  there  should  be 
any  disagreement  about  the  facts  they  will  be  submitted 
to  arbitration/' 

Unfortunately  in  most  cases  where  a  neutral  ship  is 
so  sunk,  the  exploding  mine  automatically  destroys  all 
evidence  of  its  own  origin,  and  each  belligerent  promptly 
and  positively  declares  that  it  must  have  been  planted, 
if  not  deliberately  set  adrift,  by  the  other  side.  The  neu- 
tral is  left  to  get  what  satisfaction  he  can  out  of  the  rul- 
ing of  the  last  Hague  Conference  that  all  contact  mines 
must  be  so  constructed  as  to  become  harmless  after  break- 
ing loose  from  their  moorings.  There  is  nothing  me- 
chanically difficult  about  installing  such  a  safety  device, 
and  all  the  great  powers  now  at  war  with  each  other 
solemnly  pledged  themselves  to  do  so.  But  the  tempta- 
tion of  perhaps  destroying  a  hostile  battleship  as  the 


Mines  149 

Hatsuse  was  destroyed,  by  a  drifting  mine,  has  appar- 
ently been  too  great. 

Premature  explosion  of  the  mine  during  handling  and 
planting,  such  as  caused  the  destruction  of  the  Yenisei 
is,  of  course,  carefully  guarded  against.  One  of  the 
simplest  and  most  effective  safety  devices  is  that  used  in 
the  British  navy,  where  the  external  parts  of  the  explod- 
ing apparatus  are  sealed  with  a  thick  layer  of  sugar, 
which  is  dissolved  by  the  sea-water  after  being  sub- 
merged for  a  few  minutes.  By  then  the  mine-laying 
vessel  has  had  time  to  get  safely  out  of  the  neighbor- 
hood. 

Modern  mines  are  of  various  shapes  and  sizes  but  are 
as  a  rule  either  spherical  or  shaped  like  a  pear  with  the 
stem  down.  The  anchor  is  a  hollow,  flat-bottomed  cylin- 
der, containing  its  own  anchor  cable  wound  on  a  wind- 
lass, and  making  a  convenient  base  or  stand  for  the  ex- 
plosive chamber  or  mine  proper,  so  that  the  whole  ap- 
paratus can  be  stood  or  trundled  about  the  deck  of  a 
mine-layer  like  a  barrel.  Once  placed  in  the  water  either 
by  being  dropped  through  the  overhanging  stern-ports 
of  a  large  sea-going  mine-planter  like  the  U.S.S.  San 
Francisco,  or  lowered  over  the  side  of  a  smaller  craft 
by  a  derrick  boom,  the  weight  of  its  anchor  causes  the 
mine  to  assume  an  upright  position.  This  releases  a 
small  weight  or  plummet  at  the  end  of  a  short  line  at- 
tached to  a  spring  that  keeps  the  windlass  inside  the 
anchor  from  revolving.  When  the  plummet  has  sunk  to 
the  end  of  its  cord,  its  weight  pulls  down  the  spring, 
and  the  windlass  begins  to  revolve  and  unreel  the  cable, 


150        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

the  end  of  which  is,  of  course,  made  fast  to  the  bottom 
of  the  mine.  This  causes  the  anchor,  which  has  been 
held  up  by  the  buoyancy  of  the  mine,  to  sink,  and  fol- 
lows the  plummet  till  the  latter  touches  the  bottom. 
Freed  of  the  plummet's  weight,  the  spring  now  flies  up 
and  stops  the  windlass.  But  the  hollow  anchor  is  now 


(Redrawn  from  the  London  Sphere. ) 


Modern  Contact-Mine. 

A,  Mine-Planter;  B,  Mine  being  dropped  overboard;  C,  Plummet-line  ex- 
tended; D,  Anchor  sinking;  E,  Plummet  touching  bottom;  F,  Mine  sub- 
merged and  anchored;  G,  Battleship  striking  mine;  i,  The  "Striker"; 
2,  Charge  of  Explosives;  3,  Air-space,  for  Buoyancy;  4,  Mine-case;  5, 
Anchor;  6,  Plummet. 

filled  with  water,  whose  additional  weight  drags  the  mine 
under.  When  the  anchor  rests  on  the  bottom,  the  mine 
will  be  at  the  same  distance  beneath  the  surface  of  the 
water  as  the  anchor  had  to  sink  after  the  windlass 
stopped,  or  the  length  of  the  plummet's  line.  By  regu- 
lating that,  a  mine  can  be  made  automatically  to  set  itself 
at  any  desired  depth. 


Mines  151 

Mines  are  almost  never  laid  singly  but  in  groups,  the 
area  of  water  so  planted  being  called  a  "  mine  field." 
A  secret,  zigzag  channel  is  often  left  clear  for  the  benefit 
of  friendly  craft.  The  rows  of  mines  are  usually  "  stag- 
gered "  or  placed  like  the  men  on  a  checker-board,  so 
that  if  a  hostile  vessel  passes  through  an  opening  in  the 
first  row  she  will  strike  a  mine  in  the  second.  Another 
device  is  to  couple  together  the  mooring  cables  of  two 
or  more  mines  so  that  a  ship  passing  between  them  will 
draw  them  in  against  her  sides. 

Contact  may  cause  explosion  in  any  one  of  several 
different  ways.  The  head  or  sides  of  the  mine  may  be 
studded  with  projecting  rods  like  the  striker  on  the  nose 
of  a  Whitehead,  to  be  either  driven  directly  in  against 
a  detonating  charge  of  fulminate  or  else  open  the  jaws 
of  a  clutch  and  release  the  spring  of  a  firing-pin.  Such 
external  movable  parts,  however,  are  too  prone  to  become 
overgrown  and  clogged  with  barnacles  and  the  like.  A 
more  modern  way  is  to  have  the  shock  of  the  collision 
with  the  ship's  hull  dislodge  a  heavy  ball  held  in  a  cup 
inside  the  mine.  The  fall  of  this  weight  sets  in  motion 
machinery  which  fires  the  detonating  charge.  Or  the 
device  may  not  be  mechanical  but  electrical,  as  in  the 
type  of  mine  that,  when  drawn  far  enough  over  to  one 
side  by  a  vessel  passing  over  it,  spills  a  cupful  of  mer- 
cury. This  stream  of  liquid  metal  closes  an  electric  cir- 
cuit, so  that  an  electric  current  passes  through  a  piece 
of  platinum  wire  embedded  in  fulminate  and  heats  it  red^ 
hot,  with  obvious  results.  This  current  may  be  obtained 
either  from  a  storage-battery  carried  in  the  mine  itself, 
or  through  a  wire  running  down  the  mooring  cable  and 


152        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

over  the  bottom  to  the  shore.  Most  shore-control  mines 
are  so  designed  that  they  can  either  be  fired  by  observa- 
tion, or  else  turned  into  electro-contact  mines  of  the 
above-mentioned  type  by  arranging  the  switches  in  the 
controlling  station.  It  is  also  possible  to  have  the  contact 
serve  to  warn  the  operator  on  shore  by  ringing  a  bell 
and  indicating  the  position  of  the  intruding  ship  in  the 
mine-field. 

Just  as  barbed-wire  entanglements  on  land  are  blown 
out  of  the  way  by  small  charges  of  high  explosives,  so 
mined  areas  of  the  sea  can  be  cleared  by  "  counter-min- 
ing." One  or  more  strings  of  linked-together  mines,  of 
a  small,  easily-handled  type,  are  carefully  placed  by  light- 
draft  vessels  in  the  waters  already  planted  by  the  enemy. 
When  these  are  exploded  together,  the  concussion  is 
enough  to  destroy  any  anchored  mines  near  at  hand, 
either  by  setting  off  their  exploding-devices  or  causing 
their  cases  to  leak,  so  that  they  will  be  filled  with  water 
and  sink  harmlessly  to  the  bottom.  Or  a  channel  may 
be  cleared  by  "  sweeping "  it  with  a  drag-rope  towed 
along  the  bottom  by  two  small  steamers,  exploding  the 
mines  or  tearing  them  up  by  the  roots.  Very  effective 
work  of  this  kind  has  been  done  by  the  small  steam- 
trawlers  used  by  the  North  Sea  fishermen,  and  if  any- 
thing of  the  sort  is  ever  necessary  in  American  waters 
we  may  be  thankful  for  the  powerful  sea-going  tugs  now 
towing  strings  of  barges  up  and  down  our  coasts. 

But  even  a  light  field-piece  on  shore  can  shell  and 
sink  the  sort  of  small,  unarmored  craft  that  must  be  used 
for  mine-sweeping.  When  a  fleet  attacks  a  channel  or 
harbor  entrance  properly  defended  by  both  mine-fields 


154        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

and  batteries,  each  supporting  the  other,  there  comes  a 
time  when  the  naval  forces  must  wait  till  troops  can  be 
landed  to  drive  away  the  forces  protecting  the  rear  of  the 
batteries,  so  that  the  mine-sweepers  can  advance  and  clear 
a  channel  for  the  superdreadnoughts.  The  most  striking 
example  of  this  is  the  holding  of  the  Allied  fleet  by  the 
Turks  at  the  Dardanelles. 

There,  too,  effective  use  is  being  made  of  the  latest, 
which  is  an  adaptation  of  the  oldest  type  of  torpedo :  the 
drifting  mine.4  This  twentieth-century  improvement  on 
Bushnell's  "  kegs  charged  with  powder  "  floats  upright, 
with  a  vertical-acting  propeller  on  top  and  another  on  its 
bottom,  and  a  hydrostatic  valve  set  to  maintain  it  at  any 
desired  depth.  Should  it  rise  or  sink,  the  change  in  pres- 
sure will  cause  the  valve  to  act  on  the  principle  already 
explained  in  connection  with  the  Whitehead  torpedo  (see 
page  44).  Controlled  by  the  valve,  the  little  compressed- 
air  motor  attached  to  the  vertical  propellers  will  cause 
them  to  make  a  few  revolutions,  just  enough  to  keep  the 
mine  at  a  constant  depth  beneath  the  surface  of  the 
Dardanelles,  as  the  four-mile-an-hour  current  carries  it 
down  against  the  Anglo-French  fleet.  Within  a  few 
hours  of  each  other,  during  the  furious  bombardment 
of  the  forts  on  March  18,  1915,  the  French  battleship 
Bouvet  was  struck  by  one  of  these  drifting  mines  and 
went  down  stern- foremost,  then  H.M.S.  Ocean  was  sunk 
by  another,  and  the  Irresistible  forced  to  run  ashore  to 
escape  sinking,  only  to  be  pounded  to  pieces  by  the  guns 
of  the  forts.  A  feature  of  this  type  of  mine  is  that  its 

4  This  was  a  very  popular  type  with  the  Confederate  Torpedo 
Service  in  the  Civil  War. 


Mines  155 

size  and  shape  enable  it  to  be  launched  through  a  torpedo 
tube,  either  from  a  surface  craft  or  from  a  submarine. 

Ordinary  contact-mines,  without  anchors  and  attached 
to  floats  that  held  them  a  few  feet  below  the  surface  of 
the  water,  are  sometimes  dropped  overboard  from  a 
vessel  closely  pursued  by  an  enemy.  A  small  mine  so 
dropped  by  a  German  light  cruiser  returning  from  an 
attempted  raid  on  the  English  coast,  early  in  the  war, 
was  struck  by  the  pursuing  British  submarine  D-$  and 
sent  her  to  the  bottom.  The  D-$  was  running  awash 
at  the  time  and  only  two  officers  and  two  seamen  were 
saved. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE   SUBMARINE   IN    ACTION 

"  Hit  and  hard  hit !     The  blow  went  home 

The  muffled  knocking  stroke, 

The  steam  that  overrides  the  foam, 

The  foam  that  thins  to  smoke, 

The  smoke  that  cloaks  the  deep  aboil, 

The  deep  that  chokes  her  throes, 

Till,  streaked  with  ash  and  sleeked  with  oil, 

The  lukewarm  whirlpools  close !  " 

—  KIPLING. 

THE  first  submarine  in  history  to  sink  a  hostile 
warship  without  also  sinking  herself  is  the  E-p  of 
the  British  navy.  Together  with  most  of  her  consorts, 
she  was  sent,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  present  war,  to  explore 
and  reconnoiter  off  the  German  coast  and  the  island 
fortress  of  Heligoland  to  find  where  the  enemy's  ships 
were  lying,  how  they  were  protected  and  how  they  might 
be  attacked.  After  six  weeks  of  such  work,  the  E-p 
entered  Heligoland  Bight  on  September  13,  1914,  and  dis- 
charged two  torpedoes  at  the  German  light  cruiser  Hela. 
One  exploded  against  her  bow  and  the  other  amidships, 
and  the  cruiser  went  down  almost  immediately,  drown- 
ing many  of  her  crew. 

Another  British  submarine  had  already  appeared  in 
action  off  Heligoland  but  as  a  saver  instead  of  a  de- 
stroyer of  human  life.  On  the  28th  of  August  a  number 

156 


Copyright,  London  Sphere  &  N.  Y.  Herald. 

English  Submarine  Rescuing  English  Sailors. 


157 


158        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

of  German  torpedo-craft  and  light  cruisers  were  decoyed 
out  to  sea  by  the  appearance  and  pretended  flight  of 
some  English  destroyers.  (It  has  been  declared  but  not 
officially  confirmed  that  the  "  bait "  consisted  not  of  de- 
stroyers but  two  British  submarines,  which  rose  to  the 
surface  where  one  of  them  pretended  to  be  disabled  and 
was  slowly  towed  away  by  the  other  till  their  pursuers 
were  almost  within  range,  when  the  line  was  cast  off  and 
both  boats  dived  to  safety.)  The  Germans  found  them- 
selves attacked  by  a  larger  British  flotilla  and  a  confused 
sort  of  battle  followed.  During  the  melee,  an  English 
cruiser  lowered  a  whaleboat  that  picked  up  several  sur- 
vivors of  a  sunken  German  vessel.  The  cruiser  was  then 
driven  away  by  a  more  powerful  German  ship,  and  the 
crew  of  the  whaleboat  found  themselves  left  in  the 
enemy's  waters  without  arms,  food,  or  navigating  instru- 
ments, Suddenly  a  periscope  rose  out  of  the  water 
alongside,  followed  by  the  conning-tower  and  hull  of  the 
British  submarine  £-4,  which  took  the  Englishmen  on 
board  and  left  the  Germans  the  whaleboat,  after  which 
both  parties  went  home  rejoicing. 

Shortly  after  this,  the  German  submarine  C/-/5  boldly 
attacked  a  British  squadron,  but  revealed  herself  by  the 
white  wake  of  her  periscope  as  it  cut  through  the  calm 
water.  A  beautifully  aimed  shot  from  the  cruiser  Bir- 
mingham smashed  the  periscope.  The  submarine  dived, 
temporarily  safe  but  blinded,  for  she  was  an  old-fash- 
ioned craft  with  only  one  observation  instrument.  Her 
commander  now  essayed  a  swift  "  porpoise  dive  "  up  to 
the  surface  and  down  again,  exposing  only  the  conning- 
tower  for  a  very  few  seconds.  But  a  broadside  blazed 


Copyright,  London  Sphere  &  N.  Y.  Herald. 


Copyright.  London  Sphere  &  N.  Y.  Herald. 
3 


Engagement  between  the  Birmingham  and  the  U-i 

1.  Submarine's  periscope  shot  away. 

2.  Submarine  dives,  temporarily  safe  but  blinded. 

3.  Submarine  exposes  conning-tower. 

4.  Conning-tower  shot  away,  U-I5  sinking. 


159 


160       The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

from  the  Birmingham,  a  shell  struck  squarely  against  the 
conning-tower,  and  the  sea  poured  in  through  the  ragged 
death-wound  in  the  deck  of  the  E/-/5. 

But  these  early  affairs  were  now  overshadowed  as  com- 
pletely as  the  first  Union  victories  in  West  Virginia  were 
overshadowed  by  Bull  Run.  Another  British  squadron 
encountered  another  German  submarine  and  this  time 
the  periscope  was  not  detected.  Lieutenant-Commander 
Otto  von  Weddigen  had  had  ample  time  to  take  up  an 
ideal  position  beside  the  path  of  his  enemies,  who  passed 
in  slow  and  stately  procession  before  the  bow  torpedo- 
tubes  of  the  U-p.  The  German  officer  pressed  a  button 
and  saw  through  his  periscope  the  white  path  of  the 
"  Schwartzkopf  "  as  it  sped  straight  and  true  to  the  tall 
side  of  the  Aboukir.  He  saw  the  cruiser  heaved  into  the 
air  by  the  shock  of  the  bursting  war-head,  then  watched 
her  settle  and  go  down.  Round  swung  her  nearest  con- 
sort to  the  rescue,  lowering  her  lifeboats  as  she  came. 
But  scarcely  had  the  survivors  of  the  Aboukir 's  company 
set  foot  on  the  deck  of  the  Hogue  than  she,  too,  was 
torpedoed,  and  the  half -naked  men  of  both  crews  went 
tumbling  down  the  slope  of  the  upturned  side  as  she 
rolled  over  and  sank.  Up  steamed  the  Cressy,  her  gun- 
crews standing  by  their  useless  pieces,  splendid  in  help- 
less bravery.  Half  reluctantly,  von  Weddigen  sent  his 
remaining  foe  to  the  bottom  and  slipped  away  under  the 
waves,  the  victor  of  the  strangest  naval  battle  in  history. 

Not  a  German  had  received  the  slightest  injury ;  four- 
teen hundred  Englishmen  had  been  killed.  It  was  the 
loss  of  these  trained  officers  and  seamen,  and  not  that  of 
three  old  cruisers  that  would  soon  have  been  sent  to  the 


The  Submarine  in  Action  161 

scrap  heap,  that  was  felt  by  the  British  navy.  Realizing 
that  no  fears  for  their  own  lives  would  keep  the  officers 
of  a  British  ship  from  attempting  to  rescue  the  drowning 
crew  of  another,  the  Admiralty  issued  the  following  or- 
der: 

"  It  has  been  necessary  to  point  out  for  the  future 
guidance  of  his  Majesty's  ships  that  the  conditions  that 
prevail  when  one  vessel  of  a  squadron  is  injured  in  a 
mine-field  or  exposed  to  submarine  attack  are  analogous 
to  those  which  occur  in  an  action  and  that  the  rule  of 
leaving  disabled  ships  to  their  own  resources  is  applicable, 
so  far  at  any  rate  as  large  vessels  are  concerned.  No  act 
of  humanity,  whether  to  friend  or  foe,  should  lead  to  a 
neglect  of  the  proper  precautions  and  dispositions  of 
war,  and  no  measures  can  be  taken  to  save  life  which 
prejudice  the  military  situation." 

Another  old  cruiser,  the  Hermes,  that  had  been 
turned  into  a  floating  base  for  sea-planes,  was  torpedoed 
off  Dunkirk  by  a  German  submarine,  most  of  the  crew 
being  rescued  by  French  torpedo  boats.  On  New  Year's 
day,  1915,  the  battleship  Formidable  was  likewise  sent 
to  the  bottom  of  the  English  Channel.  She  too  was  a 
rather  old  ship,  of  the  same  class  as  the  Bulwark,  which 
had  been  destroyed  by  an  internal  explosion  two  weeks 
earlier  in  the  Medway,  and  the  Irresistible,  afterwards 
sunk  by  a  mine  in  the  Dardanelles. 

But  there  was  nothing  small  or  old  about  the  Auda- 
cious, She  was  —  or  is  —  a  24,800  ton  superdread- 
nought,  launched  in  1911  and  carrying  ten  thirteen-and-a- 
half-inch  guns.  This  stupendous  war-engine  was  found 
rolling  helpless  in  the  Irish  Sea,  her  after  compartments 


162        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

flooded  by  a  great  hole  made  either  by  a  drifting  mine 
or,  what  is  more  likely  considering  its  position,  by  a  tor- 
pedo from  a  German  submarine.  The  White  Star  liner 
Olympic,  which  had  been  summoned  by  wireless,  took 
the  disabled  warship  in  tow  for  several  hours,  after  which 
the  Audacious  was  cast  off  and  abandoned.  A  photo- 
graph taken  by  one  of  the  Olympic's  passengers  and  after- 
wards widely  circulated  shows  the  huge  ironclad  down 
by  the  stern,  listing  heavily  to  one  side,  and  apparently 
on  the  point  of  sinking.  But  her  loss  has  never  been  ad- 
mitted by  the  British  Admiralty,  and  it  has  been  re- 
peatedly declared  by  reputable  persons  that  the  Audacious 
was  kept  afloat  till  the  Olympic  was  out  of  sight,  and  was 
then  towed  by  naval  vessels  into  Belfast,  where  she  was 
drydocked  and  repaired  at  Harland  and  Wolff's  shipyard 
to  be  sent  back  to  the  fighting  line.  Her  fate  is  one  of 
the  most  interesting  of  the  many  mysteries  of  the  war 
and  will  probably  not  be  made  clear  till  peace  has  come. 
The  silence  of  the  British  Admiralty  is  explained  by  the 
standing  orders  forbidding  the  revealing  of  the  where- 
abouts of  any  of  his  Majesty's  ships,  particularly  when 
helpless  and  disabled.  It  should  be  noted  in  this  connec- 
tion that  the  German  government  has  never  admitted  the 
loss  of  the  battleship  Pommern  which  the  Russians  insist 
was  sunk  by  one  of  their  submarines  in  the  Baltic. 

Because  the  overwhelming  strength  of  the  Allied  fleet 
has  kept  the  German  and  Austrian  battleships  safely 
locked  up  behind  shore  batteries,  mine-fields  and  nettings, 
the  Allies'  submarines  have  had  comparatively  few  tar- 
gets to  try  their  skill  on.  The  activity  of  the  British 
submarines  in  the  North  Sea  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war 


164        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

has  already  been  referred  to,  and  a  year  later  they  found 
another  opportunity  in  the  Baltic.  There  the  German 
fleet  had  the  same  preponderance  over  the  Russian  as  the 
English  had  over  the  German  battleships  in  the  North 
Sea,  but  the  British  dreadnoughts  could  not  be  sent 
through  the  long  tortuous  passage  of  the  Skagerrack  and 
Cattegat,  thick-sown  with  German  mines,  without  cut- 
ting the  British  fleet  in  half  and  giving  the  Germans  a 
splendid  chance  to  defeat  either  half  and  then  slip  back 
through  the  Kiel  Canal  and  destroy  the  other.  So  Eng- 
land sent  some  of  her  submarines  instead.  One  of  these 
joined  the  Russian  squadron  defending  the  Gulf  of  Riga 
against  a  German  fleet  and  decided  the  fight  by  disabling 
the  great  battle-cruiser  Moltke.  Another,  the  E-1%,  ran 
ashore  on  the  Danish  island  of  Saltholm  on  August  19, 
1915,  and  was  warned  by  the  commander  of  a  Danish 
torpedo-boat  that  she  would  be  allowed  twenty- four 
hours  to  get  off.  Before  the  time-limit  had  expired  and 
while  three  Danish  torpedo-boats  were  standing  by,  two 
German  destroyers  steamed  up,  torpedoed  the  E-1%,  and 
killed  half  her  crew  by  gun-fire :  an  outrageous  violation 
of  Denmark's  neutrality.1 

1  London,  Jan.  4. —  A  British  official  statement  issued  to-day  says : 

"  Sir  Edward  Grey,  secretary  for  foreign  affairs,  has  answered  the 
complaint  by  the  Germans  through  the  American  embassies  regarding 
the  destruction  off  the  coast  of  Ireland  of  a  German  submarine  and 
crew,  by  the  British  auxiliary  Baralong,  by  referring  to  various  Ger- 
man outrages. 

"  Sir  Edward  Grey  offers  to  submit  such  incidents,  including  the 
Baralong  case,  to  an  impartial  tribunal  composed,  say,  of  officers  of 
the  United  States  navy. 

"The  Foreign  Office  has  presented  to  the  House  of  Commons  the 
full  correspondence  between  Ambassador  Page  and  Sir  Edward  Grey 
concerning  the  case.  A  memorandum  from  Germany  concerning  the 
sinking  of  the  submarine  includes  affidavits  from  six  Americans  who 


The  Submarine  in  Action  165 

Daredevil  deeds  have  been  done  by  the  submarines  of 
both  sides  in  the  Dardanelles.  The  little  B-n  swam  up 
the  straits,  threading  her  way  through  mine-field  after 
mine-field,  her  captain  keeping  his  course  by  "  dead- 
reckoning  "  with  map  and  compass  and  stop  watch.  To 
have  exposed  his  periscope  would  have  drawn  the  fire 
of  the  many  shore  batteries,  to  have  dived  a  few  feet  too 
far  in  those  shallow  waters  would  have  meant  running 
aground,  to  have  misjudged  the  swirling,  changing  cur- 
rents might  have  meant  annihilation.  But  Commander 
Holbrook  brought  his  vessel  safely  through,  torpedoed 
and  sank  the  guard-ship  Messudieh,  a  Turkish  ironclad 
of  the  vintage  of  1874,  and  returned  to  receive  the  Vic- 
toria Cross  from  his  king  and  a  gigantic  "  Iron  Cross  " 
from  his  brother  officers.  The  E-n  went  up  even  to 
Constantinople,  torpedoed  a  Turkish  transport  within 
sight  of  the  city  and  threw  the  whole  waterfront  into  a 
panic.  More  transports  and  store-ships  were  sunk  or 
driven  on  shore  in  the  Sea  of  Marmora,  a  gunboat  was 
torpedoed,  and  then  the  Kheyr-el-din,  an  old  10,000  ton 
battleship  that  had  been  the  Kurfurst  Freiderich  Wil- 
helm  before  the  kaiser  sold  her  to  Turkey,  was  sent  to 
the  bottom  of  the  same  waters  by  British  submarines. 
One  of  them  the  £-15  ran  aground  in  the  Dardanelles  and 
was  forced  to  surrender  to  the  Turks,  but  before  they 
could  float  her  off  and  make  use  of  her,  two  steam 
launches  dashed  upstream  through  the  fire  of  the  shore 

were  muleteers  aboard  the  steamer  Nicosian  and  witnessed  the  Bara- 
long's  destruction  of  the  submarine.  A  further  affidavit  from  Lari- 
more  Holland,  of  Chattanooga,  Tennessee,  who  was  a  member  of  the 
crew  of  the  Baralong,  was  submitted.  All  the  affidavits  speak  of  the 
Baralong  as  disguised  and  flying  the  American  flag." 


166        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

batteries  and  torpedoed  the  stranded  submarine  as  Gush- 
ing blew  up  the  Albemarle. 

But  on  the  same  day  as  the  E-n's  first  exploit  —  May 
25,  1915,  the  British  battleship  Triumph  went  down 
with  most  of  her  crew  off  Gallipoli,  torpedoed  by  a  Ger- 
man submarine.  The  [7-5 1  had  made  the  2400  mile  trip 
from  the  North  Sea,  using  as  tenders  a  number  of  small 
tank  steamers  flying  the  Spanish  flag.  These  vessels  in- 
tentionally drew  the  attention  of  the  cordon  of  British 
destroyers  drawn  across  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  and 
were  captured,  while  the  submarine  swam  safely  through 
and  traversed  the  Mediterranean  to  the  Dardanelles. 
Two  days  after  her  first  exploit,  the  [7-5 1  or  perhaps 
one  of  her  Austrian  consorts,  sank  another  British  bat- 
tleship, the  Majestic,  off  Gallipoli.  The  [7-5 1  has  been 
reported  sunk  by  Russian  warships  in  the  Black  Sea. 

If  they  could  sink  two  battleships  in  three  days,  why 
did  n't  the  German  undersea  boats  sink  a  dozen  or  so 
more  and  raise  the  siege  of  the  Dardanelles?  Enver 
Pasha,  the  Turkish  minister  of  war,  declared  that  "  the 
presence  of  the  submarines  destroyed  all  hopes  of  Rus- 
sia's ever  effectively  landing  troops  on  the  coast  north 
of  Constantinople."  Then  why  did  they  permit  the  land- 
ing of  British,  Australian,  New  Zealand,  and  French 
troops  on  the  Gallipoli  Peninsula  and  the  plains  of 
ancient  Troy?  It  was  not .  until  August,  1915,  that 
the  transport  Royal  Edward  was  sunk  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean by  an  Austrian  submarine.  Perhaps  before  this 
war  is  over  some  British  transport  may  be  torpedoed  in 
the  North  Sea  or  the  English  Channel,  but  for  more  than 
a  year  and  a  half  since  its  outbreak,  troop-ships  and 


i68        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

store-ships  have  been  crossing  to  France  as  if  there  were 
not  a  hostile  "  U-boat "  in  the  world.  Equally  mysteri- 
ous has  been  the  immunity  of  the  light-draft  monitors 
and  obsolescent  gunboats  off  the  Flemish  coast,  where 
their  heavy  guns  did  so  much  to  check  the  first  German 
drive  on  Calais,  and  have  harassed  the  invaders'  right 
flank  ever  since.  Many  of  these  are  mere  floating  plat- 
forms for  one  or  two  modern  guns,  all  are  slow-steam- 
ing, and  they  are  not  always  in  water  too  shallow  for  an 
undersea  boat  to  swim  in,  yet  none  have  been  sunk  by  a 
submarine  since  the  loss  of  the  Hermes,  in  the  autumn  of 
1914.  Zeebrugge,  the  Belgian  port  that  has  been  made 
the  headquarters  for  German  submarines  in  the  North 
Sea,  has  been  several  times  bombarded  by  the  British 
fleet  and,  according  to  reports  from  Amsterdam,  half- 
built  submarines  on  the  shore  there  have  been  destroyed 
by  shell-fire.  Why  did  the  completed  undersea  boats  in 
the  harbor  fail  to  come  out  and  torpedo  or  drive  away  the 
attacking  fleet  ?  We  have  been  shown  what  modern  sub- 
marines can  do;  what  prevents  them  from  doing  much 
more? 

Shortly  after  von  Weddigen's  great  exploit,  a  German 
submarine  rose  to  the  surface  so  near  the  British  de- 
stroyer Badger  that  before  the  undersea  boat  could  sub- 
merge again  she  was  rammed,  cut  open  and  sunk.  One 
of  the  most  picturesque  and  least  expected  features  of 
this  war  has  been  the  revival  of  old  ways;  soldiers  are 
again  wearing  breastplates  and  metal  helmets  and  fighting 
with  crossbows  and  catapults,  while  against  the  modern 
submarine,  seamen  are  effectively  using  the  most  ancient 
of  all  naval  weapons :  the  ram.  It  takes  two  minutes  for 


The  Submarine  in  Action  169 

the  average  undersea  boat  to  submerge,  during  which 
time  a  thirty-knot  destroyer  can  come  charging  up  from 
a  mile  away,  with  a  good  chance  of  scoring  a  hit  with 
her  forward  3-  or  4-inch  gun,  even  if  she  gets  there  too 
late  to  ram.  In  the  case  of  the  U-I2,  the  submarine 
dived  deep  enough  to  get  her  hull  and  superstructure  out 
of  harm's  way,  only  to  have  the  top  of  her  conning- 
tower  crushed  in  by  the  destroyer  as  it  passed  over  her. 
When  the  inrush  of  water  forced  the  U-I2  to  rise  to  the 
surface  and  surrender,  her  crew  discovered  that  the  main 
hatch  could  not  be  opened  because  one  of  the  periscopes 
had  been  bent  down  across  it.  Some  of  them  succeeded 
in  climbing  out  of  the  torpedo-hatch  and  jumping  over- 
board before  the  U-I2  went  down  for  good.  As  she 
sank  stern  foremost,  it  was  observed  that  both  of  her 
bow-tubes  were  empty;  evidence  that  she  had  vainly 
launched  two  torpedoes  at  the  British  flotilla  that  were 
hunting  her  down.  Though  several  British  destroyers 
and  torpedo-boats  have  been  sent  to  the  bottom  by  Ger- 
man submarines,  and  the  English  E-p  has  sunk  the  Ger- 
man destroyer  $-126,  yet  the  nimble  surface  torpedo- 
craft  have  usually  proved  too  difficult  for  the  undersea 
boats  to  hit  with  their  fixed  tubes  that  can  only  fire 
straight  ahead  or  astern. 

It  has  been  pointed  out  that  the  Aboukir,  Cressy  and 
Hogue,  the  Formidable,  and  the  Audacious  were  all  mov- 
ing slowly  and  unescorted  by  any  destroyers  when  they 
were  attacked  and  sunk.  The  same  was  true  of  the  Leon 
Gambetta  and  the  Giuseppe  Garibaldi,  when  they  were 
sent  to  the  bottom  of  the  Mediterranean  by  Austrian  sub- 
marines. Under  modern  conditions,  such  isolated  big 


170        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

ships  are  in  much  the  same  perilous  position  as  would 
have  been  a  lonely  battery  of  Union  artillery  marching 
through  a  country  swarming  with  Confederate  cavalry. 
While  an  escort  of  destroyers  is  no  sure  guarantee 
against  submarine  attack,  their  presence  certainly  seems 
to  act  as  a  powerful  deterrent. 

Waters  suspected  of  containing  hostile  submarines  are 
swept,  very  much  as  they  would  be  for  mines,  by  pairs 
of  destroyers  or  steam  trawlers,  dragging  an  arrangement 
of  strong  cables  between  them.  Sometimes  this  is  fes- 
tooned with  explosives  to  blow  in  the  side  of  any  under- 
sea boat  it  may  touch.  Usually  the  vessels  engaged  in 
this  work  use  a  large  net.  When  they  feel  the  weight 
of  a  catch,  it  is  said  that  they  let  go  the  ends  and  leave 
it  to  the  submarine's  own  twin  propellers  to  entangle 
themselves  thoroughly.  An  undersea  boat  so  entrapped 
is  helpless  to  do  anything  but  either  sink  or  else  empty 
her  tanks  and  try  to  rise  and  surrender.  A  submarine 
in  trouble  usually  sends  up  notification  in  the  form  of 
large  quantities  of  escaping  oil  and  gas. 

Inventors  have  been  busy  devising  new  kinds  of  traps, 
snares,  and  exaggerated  lobster-pots  to  be  placed  in  the 
waters  about  the  British  Isles.  How  many  German  sub- 
marines have  poked  their  noses  into  these  devices  prob- 
ably not  even  the  British  Admiralty  could  tell,  if  it  was 
so  minded,  but  the  traps  are  said  to  have  been  put  down 
very  plentifully  and  most  of  the  published  designs  are 
extremely  ingenious. 

Individual  torpedo-nets  for  ships  have  rather  gone  out 
of  fashion,  but  the  most  effective  way  of  keeping  sub- 
marines out  of  a  harbor  is  to  close  its  entrance  with 


The  Submarine  in  Action  171 

booms  and  nettings.  The  principal  naval  bases  on  both 
sides  are  undoubtedly  so  protected.  It  has  been  persist- 
ently reported  that  the  immunity  of  British  transports 
crossing  the  channel  is  due  to  a  double  line  of  booms,  nets 
and  mines  stretching  from  one  shore  to  the  other,  and 
enclosing  a  broad,  safe  channel  outside  which  the  "  U-- 
boats "  roam  hungrily.  There  would  seem  to  be  no  great 
difficulty  in  building  such  a  barrier,  but  it  would  be  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  keep  intact  in  heavy  weather  and  for 
that  reason  most  of  our  naval  officers  are  skeptical  of  its 
existence. 

Microphones  which  have  been  placed  under  water  off 
the  coasts  of  France,  Great  Britain,  and  Ireland  have 
succeeded  in  detecting  the  presence  of  submarines  at  a 
distance  of  fifty-five  miles.  This  device  has  been  per- 
fected by  the  joint  labors  of  an  American  electrical  en- 
gineer, Mr.  William  Dubilier,  and  Professor  Tissot  of 
the  French  Academy  of  Science.  These  two  gentlemen, 
experimenting  with  microphones  and  a  submarine  placed 
at  their  disposal  by  the  French  government,  "  discovered 
in  the  course  of  the  tests  that  the  underwater  craft 
were  sources  of  sound  waves  of  exceedingly  high  fre- 
quency, quite  distinctive  from  any  other  subaqueous 
sounds.  While  the  cause  of  the  high-pitched  sound  is 
known  to  the  inventors,  it  cannot  be  divulged  since  it 
would  then  be  possible  for  German  submarine  construc- 
tors to  eliminate  the  source  of  the  tell-tale  sound  waves, 
and  thus  render  void  the  purpose  of  the  detector  installa- 
tion." * 

These  microphones,  it  is  believed,  are  usually  arranged 
1 "  Scientific  American,"  October  16,  1915. 


172        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

in  a  semicircle.  Each  instrument  records  sound  waves 
best  when  they  come  from  one  particular  direction.  The 
operator  on  shore,  listening  to  a  device  that  eliminates  all 
other  sounds  coming  in  from  under  the  sea,  can  tell  by 
the  way  a  passing  submarine  affects  the  different  micro- 
phones in  the  semicircle  how  far  off  and  in  what  direction 
it  is  moving,  and  so  warns  and  summons  the  ever- 
watchful  patrol  boats. 

Air  craft  are  doubtless  being  much  used  in  the  hunt 
for  submarines,  for  an  aviator  at  a  height  of  several 
hundred  feet  can  distinctly  see  a  submarine  swimming 
beneath  him  in  clear  water  with  a  good  light  reflected 
from  the  bottom.  Early  in  the  war,  the  pilot  and  ob- 
server of  a  "  Taube "  that  was  brought  down  in  the 
North  Sea  were  rescued  by  a  British  submarine.  In  the 
attack  on  Cuxhaven  a  combined  force  of  submarines,  sea- 
planes, and  light  cruisers  was  resisted  by  the  German 
shore-batteries,  destroyers,  "  U-boats "  aeroplanes  and 
Zeppelins.  As  the  British  sea-planes  returned  from 
dropping  bombs  on  the  Cuxhaven  navy  yard  or  taking 
observations  above  the  Kiel  Canal,  some  of  them  were 
shot  down  by  the  Germans  but  the  aviators  were  picked 
up,  as  had  been  arranged  beforehand,  by  English  sub- 
marines. In  the  spring  of  1915  there  was  an  engage- 
ment between  a  Zeppelin  and  a  British  submarine  in 
which  each  side  claimed  the  victory.  On  August  26 
of  the  same  year  the  secretary  of  the  British  Admiralty 
announced : 

"  Squadron  Commander  Arthur  Bigsworth,  R.N.,  de- 
stroyed single-handed  a  German  submarine  this  morning 
by  bombs  dropped  from  an  aeroplane.  The  submarine 


Copyright,  Illustrated  London  News  &  Flying. 


Photograph  of  a  submarine,  twenty  feet  below  the  surface,  taken 
from  the  aeroplane,  whose  shadow  is  shown  in  the  picture. 


173 


174        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

was  observed  to  be  completely  wrecked,  and  sank  off  Os- 
tend. 

"  It  is  not  the  practice  of  the  Admiralty  to  publish 
statements  regarding  the  losses  of  German  submarines, 
important  though  they  have  been,  in  cases  where  the 
enemy  has  no  other  source  of  information  as  to  the  time 
and  place  at  which  these  losses  have  occurred.  In  the 
case  referred  to  above,  however,  the  brilliant  feat  of 
Squadron  Commander  Bigsworth  was  performed  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood  of  the  coast  in  occupation  of  the 
enemy  and  the  position  of  the  sunken  submarine  has  been 
located  by  a  German  destroyer." 

"  This  is  inexact/'  replied  the  German  Admiralty. 
"  The  submarine  was  attacked  but  not  hit  and  returned 
to  port  undamaged.  One  of  our  submarines  on  August 
1 6  destroyed  by  gunfire  the  benzol  factory  with  the  at- 
tached benzol  warehouses  and  coke  furnaces  near  Har- 
rington, England.  The  statement  of  the  English  press 
that  the  submarine  attacked  the  open  towns  of  Harring- 
ton, Parton,  and  Whitehaven  is  inexact." 

Equally  interesting  but  unfortunately  lacking  in  de- 
tails are  the  reports  from  the  Adriatic  of  submarines  fight- 
ing submarines.  There  have  been  three  such  duels,  in 
one  an  Austrian  sank  an  Italian  submarine,  in  another 
the  Italian  was  victorious,  while  after  the  third  both 
were  found  lying  on  the  bottom,  each  torn  open  by  the 
other's  torpedo.  As  it  is  a  physical  impossibility  for  the 
pilot  of  one  submarine  to  see  another  under  the  water, 
it  would  seem  as  if  at  least  one  of  the  combatants  in 
each  of  these  fights  must  have  been  running  on  the  sur- 
face at  the  time. 


The  Submarine  in  Action  175 

Both  Mr.  Simon  Lake  and  the  late  John  P.  Holland 
were  absolutely  confident  that  submarines  could  not  fight 
submarines,  that  surface  craft  would  be  utterly  unable 
to  injure  or  resist  them,  and  that  therefore  the  subma- 
rine boat  would  make  naval  warfare  impossible  and  do 
more  than  anything  else  to  bring  about  permanent 
peace. 

All  that  can  be  said  at  present  is  that  the  actual  situa- 
tion is  much  more  complex  than  had  been  expected. 
Submarines  have  sunk  many  surface  warships  but  have 
suffered  heavily  themselves.  The  German  government 
has  admitted  the  loss  of  over  a  dozen  "  U-boats,"  while 
the  unofficial  estimates  of  their  enemies'  run  as  high  as 
thirty-five  or  fifty  German  submarines  destroyed  or  cap- 
tured. Admiral  Beatty's  victorious  squadron,  pursuing 
the  German  battle-cruisers  after  the  second  North  Sea 
fight,  turned  and  retreated  at  the  wake  of  a  single  tor- 
pedo and  the  glimpse  of  hostile  periscopes.  But  the  sub- 
marine has  not  yet  driven  the  surface  warship  from  the 
seas  and  it  has  signally  failed  against  transports.  Its 
moral  effect  has  been  very  great :  British  submarines  have 
terrorized  the  citizens  of  Constantinople;  while  the  vic- 
tories of  their  beloved  "  U-boats  "  have  cheered  the  Ger- 
man people  as  the  victories  of  our  frigates  cheered  us 
in  1812,  and  have  been  a  somewhat  similar  shock  to  the 
nerves  of  the  British  navy.  But  that  sturdy  organization 
has  recovered  from  more  than  one  attack  of  nerves. 
And  as  the  war  goes  on,  it  becomes  increasingly  clear 
that  it  is  unfair  to  expect  unsupported  submarines,  any 
more  than  unsupported  frigates  a  century  ago,  to  do  the 
work  of  an  entire  navy.  Like  the  aeroplane,  the  sub- 


176        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

marine  was  first  derided  as  useless,  next  hailed  as  a  com- 
plete substitute  for  all  other  arms,  then  found  to  be  an 
indispensable  auxiliary,  whose  scope  and  value  are  now 
being  determined. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

• 

THE    SUBMARINE    BLOCKADE 

"  It  is  true  that  submarine  boats  have  improved,  but  they  are 
as  useless  as  ever.  Nevertheless,  the  German  navy  is  carefully 
watching  their  progress,  though  it  has  no  reason  to  make 
experiments  itself." 

ADMIRAL  VON  TIRPITZ,  in  1901* 

"DANGER! 

Being  the  Log  of  Captain  John  Sirius 

by 
Sir  Arthur  Conan  Doyle/' 

IF  you  have  not  read  the  above-mentioned  story  by  the 
author  of  Sherlock  Holmes,  I  advise  you  to  go  to  the 
nearest  public  library  and  ask  for  it.  For  those  that 
cannot  spare  the  time  to  do  this,  here  are  a  brief  outline 
and  a  few  quotations. 

Captain  John  Sirius  is  supposed  to  be  chief  of  sub- 
marines in  the  navy  of  Norland,  a  small  European  king- 
dom at  war  with  England.  With  only  eight  submarines, 
he  establishes  a  blockade  of  Great  Britain  and  begins 
sinking  all  ships  bringing  in  food.  He  enters  a  French 
harbor,  though  France  is  at  peace  with  his  country,  and 
sinks  three  British  ships  that  have  taken  refuge  there. 

"  I  suppose,"  says  the  captain,  "  they  thought  they 
were  safe  in  French  waters  but  what  did  I  care  about 


178        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

three-mile  limits  and  international  law!     The  view  of* 
my  government  was  that  England  was  blockaded,  food 
contraband,  and  vessels  carrying  it  to  be  destroyed.     The 
lawyers  could  argue  about  it  afterwards.     My  business 
was  to  starve  the  enemy  any  way  I  could/' 

Presently  he  overtook  an  American  ship  and  sank  her 
by  gunfire  as  her  skipper  shouted  protests  over  the  rail. 

"  It  was  all  the  same  to  me  what  flag  she  flew  so  long 
as  she  was  engaged  in  carrying  contraband  of  war  to  the 
British  Isles.  ...  Of  course  I  knew  there  would  be  a 
big  row  afterwards  and  there  was." 

"  The  terror  I  had  caused  had  cleared  the  Channel." 

"There  was  talk  of  a  British  invasion  (of  Norland) 
but  I  knew  this  to  be  absolute  nonsense,  for  the  British 
had  learned  by  this  time  that  it  would  be  sheer  murder 
to  send  transports  full  of  soldiers  to  sea  in  the  face  of 
submarines.  When  they  have  a  Channel  tunnel,  they 
can  use  their  fine  expeditionary  force  upon  the  Continent 
but  until  then  it  might  not  exist  so  far  as  Europe  is  con- 
cerned." 

"  Heavens,  what  would  England  have  done  against  a 
foe  with  thirty  or  forty  submarines?" 

The  British  navy  could  do  nothing  to  stop  Captain 
John  Sirius.  One  of  his  submarines  was  sunk  by  an 
armed  liner,  but  with  the  remaining  seven  he  sank  the 
Olympic  and  so  many  other  vessels  that  no  one  dared 
try  to  bring  food  into  Great  Britain.  At  the  end  of  six 
weeks,  fifty  thousand  people  there  had  died  of  starvation 
and  the  British  government  had  to  make  peace  with  Nor- 
land and  pay  for  all  the  damage  the  submarines  had 
done  to  neutrals. 


The  Submarine  Blockade  179 

As  a  warning  to  his  countrymen,  Sir  Arthur  Conan 
Doyle  wrote  this  story  in  May,  1914.  Before  it  was 
published,1  England  was  at  war  with  Germany.  On 
February  4,  1915,  the  famous  "  War  Zone  Decree"  was 
published  in  Berlin. 

"  The  waters  around  Great  Britain,  including  the 
wThole  of  the  English  Channel,  are  declared  hereby  to  be 
included  within  the  zone  of  war,  and  after  the  i8th  inst, 
all  enemy  merchant  vessels  encountered  in  these  waters 
will  be  destroyed,  even  if  it  may  not  be  possible  always 
to  save  their  crews  and  passengers. 

"  Within  this  war-zone  neutral  vessels  are  exposed  to 
danger  since,  in  view  of  the  misuse  of  the  neutral  flags 
ordered  by  the  government  of  Great  Britain  on  the  3ist 
ult,  and  of  the  hazards  of  naval  warfare,  neutral  ships 
cannot  always  be  prevented  from  suffering  from  the  at- 
tacks intended  for  enemy  ships. 

"  The  routes  of  navigation  around  the  north  of  the 
Shetland  Islands  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  North  Sea 
and  in  a  strip  thirty  miles  wide  along  the  Dutch  coast 
are  not  open  to  the  danger-zone." 

But  those  routes  had  been  closed  three  months  before 
by  the  British  government,  which  declared  that  it  had 
had  the  North  Sea  planted  with  anchored  contact  mines, 
but  that  all  ships  trading  to  neutral  ports  would,  if  they 
first  called  at  some  British  port,  be  given  safe  conduct  to 
Holland  or  Scandinavia,  by  way  of  the  English  Channel. 
This  way  would  run  through  the  proposed  "  war-zone." 

International  law  says  nothing  about  either  "  war- 
zones  "  or  submarines.  In  all  probability,  special  rules 
1  In  "  Collier's  Weekly,"  August  22,  and  29,  1914. 


180        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

for  undersea  warfare  will  be  drawn  up  by  a  conference 
of  delegates  from  the  leading  countries  of  the  world 
soon  after  the  end  of  the  present  war.  But  till  then, 
no  such  conference  can  be  held,  and  the  United  States 
has  always  maintained,  even  when  it  has  been  to  its  dis- 
advantage to  do  so,  that  no  one  nation  can  change  in- 
ternational law  to  suit  herself.  We  insist  that  the  game 
be  played  according  to  the  rules.  A  submarine  has  no 
more  rights  than  any  other  warship.  It  may  sink  a  mer- 
chantman if  the  latter  tries  to  fight  or  escape.  If  the 
captured  vessel  is  found  to  be  carrying  contraband  to  the 
enemy's  country,  the  warship  may  either  take  her  into 
port  as  a  prize  or,  if  this  is  impracticable,  sink  her.  But 
before  an  unarmed  and  unresisting  merchant  vessel  can 
be  sunk,  the  passengers  and  crew  must  be  given  time  and 
opportunity  to  escape. 

President  Wilson  gave  notice  on  February  10,  1915, 
that  if,  by  act  of  the  commander  of  any  German  war- 
ship, an  American  vessel  or  the  lives  of  American  citizens 
should  be  lost  on  the  high  seas,  the  United  States  "  would 
be  constrained  to  hold  the  Imperial  government  of  Ger- 
many to  a  strict  accountability  for  such  acts  of  their 
naval  authorities  and  to  take  any  steps  that  might  be 
necessary  to  safeguard  American  lives  and  property  and 
to  secure  to  American  citizens  the  full  enjoyments  of 
their  acknowledged  rights  on  the  high  seas/' 

On  the  same  day,  a  note  to  Great  Britain  voiced  our 
objection  to  the  "  explicit  sanction  by  a  belligerent  gov- 
ernment for  its  merchant  ships  generally  to  fly  the  flag 
of  a  neutral  power  within  certain  portions  of  the  high 


The  Submarine  Blockade  181 

seas  which  are  presumed  to  be  frequented  with  hostile 
warships." 

To  this  Sir  Edward  Grey  replied  that  "  the  British 
government  have  no  intention  of  advising  their  merchant 
shipping  to  use  foreign  flags  as  a  general  practice  or  re- 
sort to  them  otherwise  than  for  escaping  capture  or  de- 
struction/' 

Such  "  sailing  under  false  colors  "  to  fool  the  enemy's 
cruisers  is  an  old  and  well-established  right  of  merchant- 
men of  belligerent  countries.  Its  abuse,  under  present- 
day  conditions,  however,  might  have  given  the  German 
submarine  commanders  a  plausible  excuse  for  sinking 
neutral  vessels.  To  avoid  this,  neutral  shipowners  be- 
gan to  paint  the  name,  port,  and  national  colors  on  the 
broadside  of  each  of  their  steamers,  plain  enough  to  be 
read  from  afar  through  a  periscope. 

Then  the  time  came  for  the  war-zone  decree  to  be  put 
into  effect,  and  the  world  watched  with  great  interest 
and  no  little  apprehension  to  see  what  the  submarine 
blockaders  could  do. 

Seven  British  ships  were  sunk  during  the  first  six  days. 
Then  came  a  lull,  followed  by  the  announcement  by  the 
British  Admiralty  that  between  February  23  to  March  3, 
3805  transoceanic  ships  had  arrived  at  British  ports,  669 
had  cleared  and  none  had  been  lost,  while  two  German 
submarines  had  been  sunk.  During  the  eleven  weeks  be- 
tween the  establishing  of  the  blockade  and  the  sinking. of 
the  Lusitania,  forty-two  oversea  vessels  and  twenty-eight 
fishing  boats  of  British  registry  had  been  sunk  by  the 
submarines,  but  16,190  liners  and  freighters  had  safely 


182        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

run  the  blockade.     The  largest  number  of  vessels  sunk 
by  the  "  U-boats  "  in  any  one  week  was  thirty-six,  be- 


Copyright,  London  Sphere  &  N.  Y.  Herald. 

German  Submarine  Pursuing  English  Merchantman. 

(Note    stern    torpedo-tubes,    and    funnel    for    carrying    off    exhaust    from 
Diesel   engine.) 

tween  June  23  and  30;  while  nineteen  British  merchant- 
men, with  a  total  tonnage  of  76,000,  and  three  fishing 


The  Submarine  Blockade  183 

vessels  were  destroyed  either  by  submarines  or  mines 
during  the  week  ending  August  25.  The  total  number 
sunk  in  the  first  six  months  was  485.  But  with  more 
than  fifteen  hundred  ships  coming  and  going  every  week, 
the  submarine  blockade  of  the  British  Isles  was  ob- 
viously a  failure. 

It  was  a  costly  failure  from  the  military  point  of 
view.  The  expenditure  of  torpedoes  alone  must  have 
been  considerable  and  a  modern  Whitehead  or  Schwartz- 
kopf  costs  from  five  to  eight  thousand  dollars  and  takes 
several  months  to  build.  How  many  of  the  "  U-boats  " 
themselves  have  fallen  prey  to  the  British  patroling  craft, 
traps,  mines,  and  drag-nets  cannot  be  computed  with  any 
accuracy,  but  by  the  first  of  September,  1915,  the  num- 
ber declared  to  be  lost  "  on  the  authority  of  a  high  of- 
ficial in  the  British  Admiralty "  ran  anywhere  from 
thirty  to  fifty.  Even  if  she  has  been  completing  a  new 
submarine  every  week  since  the  war  began,  Germany 
cannot  afford  the  loss  of  so  much  material,  and  still,  less, 
of  so  many  trained  men.  Captain  Persius,  one  of  the 
foremost  German  writers  on  naval  affairs,  pointed  this 
out  in  a  newspaper  article  that  brought  a  hurricane  of 
angry  criticism  about  his  ears.  How  great  has  been  the 
wear  and  tear  on  the  nervous  systems  of  the  submarine 
crews  is  shown  by  the  following  extract  from  the  state- 
ment of  Captain  Hansen  of  the  captured  U-i6. 

"  It  is  fearfully  trying  on  the  nerves.  Not  every  man 
can  endure  it.  While  running  under  the  sea  there  is 
deathlike  stillness  in  the  boats,  as  the  electrical  machinery 
is  noiseless.  ...  As  the  air  becomes  heated  it  gets  poor 
and  mixed  with  the  odor  of  oil  from  the  machinery. 


184        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

The  atmosphere  becomes  fearful.  An  overpowering 
sleepiness  often  attacks  new  men  and  one  requires  the 
utmost  will  power  to  keep  awake.  I  have  had  men  who 
did  not  want  to  eat  during  the  first  three  days  out  be- 
cause they  did  not  want  to  lose  that  amount  of  time  from 
sleep.  Day  after  day  spent  in  such  cramped  quarters, 
where  there  is  hardly  room  to  stretch  your  legs,  and  re- 
maining constantly  on  the  alert,  is  a  tremendous  strain 
on  the  nerves." 

But  if  there  is  discomfort  below  the  surface  there  is 
peril  of  death  above.  Yet  a  submarine  must  spend  as 
much  time  as  possible  6n  top  of  the  water,  even  off  the 
enemy's  coast,  to  spare  the  precious  storage  batteries  and 
let  the  Diesel  engines  grind  oil  into  electricity  by  using 
the  electric  motor  as  a  dynamo.  If  she  could  renew  her 
batteries  under  water  or  pick  up  a  useable  supply  of  cur- 
rent as  she  can  pick  up  a  drum  of  oil  from  a  given  spot 
on  the  sea-bottom,  then  the  modern  submarine  would  in- 
deed be  a  hard  fish  to  catch.  As  it  is,  great  ingenuity 
has  been  shown  by  the  German  skippers  in  minimizing 
the  dangers  of  surface  cruising  and  at  the  same  time 
stalking  their  prey.  One  big  submarine  masqueraded 
as  a  steamer,  with  dummy  masts  and  funnel.  Inno- 
cent-looking steam  trawlers  flying  neutral  flags  acted  as 
screens  and  lookouts,  besides  carrying  supplies.  One  of 
these  boldly  entered  a  British  harbor,  where  it  was  no- 
ticed that  her  decks  were  cumbered  with  very  many  coils 
of  rope.  The  authorities  investigated  and  found  snugly 
stowed  in  the  center  of  each  a  large  can  of  fuel-oil.  An- 
other trawler,  flying  the  Dutch  flag,  was  stopped  in  the 


The  Submarine  Blockade  185 

North  Sea  by  a  British  cruiser  and  searched  by  a  board- 
ing-party. They  were  going  back  into  their  boat,  after 
finding  everything  apparently  as  it  should  be,  when  one 
of  the  Englishmen  noticed  a  mysterious  pipe  sticking 
out  of  the-  trawler's  side.  They  swarmed  on  board 
again  and  discovered  that  the  fishing-boat  had  a  complete 
double  hull,  the  space  between  being  filled  with  oil.  The 
trawler's  crew  were  removed  to  the  cruiser  and  a  strong 
detachment  of  bluejackets  left  in  their  place.  A  few 
hours  afterwards,  there  was  a  swirl  of  water  alongside 
and  a  German  submarine  came  up  for  refreshments. 
It  was  promptly  captured  and  so  was  another  that  pres- 
ently followed  it:  a  good  day's  catch  for  one  small  fish- 
ing-boat. 

Because  of  the  uncertainty  and  danger  of  depending 
on  underwater  caches  and  tenders,  each  blockader  usually 
returned  at  the  end  of  two  or  three  weeks  to  Heligoland, 
Zeebruge,  Ostend,  or  some  other  base  to  take  on  sup- 
plies, report  progress  and  rest  the  crew.  This  of  course 
reduces  the  number  of  submarines  actually  on  guard. 
How  large  that  number  may  have  been  at  any  particular 
time  since  the  blockade  began  is  unknown  to  everybody 
except  a  few  persons  in  Berlin.  At  the  outbreak  of  the 
war,  Germany  had  between  twenty  and  twenty-five  sub- 
marines in  commission  and  a  dozen  or  so  under  construc- 
tion. If,  as  is  claimed,  the  Germans  have  been  complet- 
ing a  new  undersea  boat  every  week  since  the  war  began, 
that  would  have  given  them  by  August  i,  1915,  a  flotilla 
of  seventy-seven,  exclusive  of  losses.  If  only  thirty  had 
been  lost,  that  would  have  left  fewer  than  fifty  subma- 


186        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

/ines  to  blockade  more  than  fifty  seaports,  great  and 
small,  scattered  over  more  than  twenty-five  hundred  miles 
of  coast. 

Moreover,  these  widely  scattered  blockaders  would 
have  to  be  on  duty  by  night  as  well  as  by  day.  But  at 
night  or  in  fog  the  periscope  is  useless;  to  intercept  an 
incoming  steamer,  running  swiftly  and  without  lights, 
the  submarine  must  rise  and  cruise  on  the  surface.  It 
cannot  use  a  searchlight  to  locate  the  blockade-runner 
without  consuming  much  precious  voltage  and  at  the 
same  time  attracting  the  nearest  patrol-boat. 

The  same  disadvantages  apply  to  sending  wireless  mes- 
sages from  one  blockading  submarine  to  another.  And 
as  the  wireless  apparatus  of  an  undersea  boat  is  neces- 
sarily low-powered  and  has  a  narrow  radius,  while  "  os- 
cillators," bells,  and  other  underwater  signaling  devices 
are  still  in  their  infancy,  it  would  seem  as  if  the  German 
"  U-boats  "  in  British  waters  must  have  been  suffering 
from  lack  of  cooperation  and  team-play.  If  the  captain 
of  a  Union  gunboat,  lying  off  Charleston  during  the  Civil 
War,  caught  a  glimpse  of  a  blockade  runner,  he  could 
alarm  the  rest  of  the  fleet  with  rockets  and  signal  guns, 
but  the  commander  of  the  U-pp  off  Queenstown  cannot 
count  on  his  consorts  if  he  himself  fails  to  sink  an  ap- 
proaching liner. 

Perhaps  the  most  notable  shortcoming  of  the  subma- 
rine blockade  has  been  its  failure  to  inspire  terror.  Con- 
trary to  the  expectations  of  nearly  every  forecaster  from 
Robert  Fulton  to  Conan  Doyle,  the  sinking  of  the  first 
merchant  vessels  by  submarines  failed  to  frighten  away 
any  others.  Cargo  rates  are  high  in  war-time  and  in- 


The  Submarine  Blockade  187 

surance  covers  the  owners'  risk,  so  few  sailing  orders 
were  canceled.  As  for  the  captains,  they  are  not  noted 
for  timidity,  and  professional  pride  is  strong  among 
them;  most  of  them  have  families  to  provide  for,  and 
every  one  of  them  knows  that  behind  him  stands  an 
eager  young  mate  with  a  master's  ticket,  ready  to  take 
the  risk  and  take  out  the  ship  if  the  skipper  quits.  So 
the  merchant  marine  accepted  the  submarine  as  one  of 
the  risks  of  the  trade. 

When  a  big  German  submarine  rose  up  off  the  Irish 
coast  within  easy  gunshot  of  the  homeward-bound 
British  steamer  Anglo-Calif ornian  and  signaled  for  her 
to  heave  to,  the  plucky  English  skipper  slammed  his  en- 
gine-room telegraph  over  to  "  Full  speed  ahead."  Away 
dashed  the  steamer  and  after  her  came  the  submarine,2 
making  good  practice  with  her  8.8  centimeter  gun. 
Twenty  shrapnel  shells  burst  over  the  Anglo-Calif  ornian, 
riddling  her  upper  works,  slaughtering  thirty  of  her 
cargo  of  horses,  killing  seven  of  her  crew  and  wound- 
ing eight  more.  Steering  with  his  own  hands,  Captain 
Archibald  Panlow  held  his  vessel  on  her  course  till  a 
shrapnel  bullet  killed  him,  when  the  wheel  was  taken  by 
his  son,  the  second  mate,  who  brought  the  Anglo-Cali- 
f ornian  safely  into  Queenstown.  It  is  men  of  this  breed 
who  have  kept  Admiral  von  Tirpitz  from  saying,  in  the 
words  of  the  fictitious  Captain  John  Sirius, 

2  This  submarine  was  the  U-39.  On  board  her  was  an  American 
boy,  Carl  Frank  List,  who  was  taken  off  a  Norwegian  ship  and 
spent  eleven  days  on  the  U-39,  during  which  time  she  sank  eleven 
ships.  In  each  case  the  crew  were  given  ample  time  to  take  to  the 
boats.  List's  intensely  interesting  narrative  appeared  in  the  "  New 
York  American  "  for  September  3,  5,  and  7,  1915. 


i88        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

"  The  terror  I  had  caused  had  cleared  the  channel/' 

But  because  the  "  Campaign  of  Frightfulness "  has 
failed  and  a  few  score  of  unsupported  submarines  have 
been  unable  to  blockade  the  British  Isles,  it  is  stupid  to 
pretend  that  there  has  been  no  progress  since  1901  and 
say  as  Admiral  von  Tirpitz  said  then, 

"  Submarines  are  as  useless  as  ever." 

Like  every  other  type  of  naval  craft,  submarines  are 
useful  but  not  omnipotent.  We  have  seen  what  they  can 
do  in  action  and  what  they  have  failed  to  do.  As 
scouts  in  the  enemy's  waters  they  are  invaluable.  As 
commerce  destroyers,  they  do  the  work  of  the  swift-sail- 
ing privateers  of  a  century  ago.  In  the  fall  of  1915, 
British  submarines  in  the  Baltic  almost  put  a  stop  to  the 
trade  between  Germany  and  Sweden.  But  to  blockade 
a  coast  effectively,  submarines  must  have  tenders,  which 
must  have  destroyers  and  light  cruisers  to  defend  them, 
which  in  turn  require  the  support  of  battle-cruisers  and 
dreadnoughts,  with  their  attendant  host  of  colliers,  hos- 
pital ships  and  air-scouts.  Nor  can  a  coast  be  long  de- 
fended by  submarines,  mine-fields  and  shore-batteries,  if 
there  are  not  enough  trained  troops  to  keep  the  enemy, 
who  can  always  land  at  some  remote  spot,  from  march- 
ing round  to  the  rear  of  the  coast-defenses.  This  war 
is  simply  repeating  the  old,  old  lesson  that  there  are  no 
cheap  and  easy  substitutes  for  a  real  army  and  a  real 
navy. 


-CHAPTER  XIV 

THE   SUBMARINE   AND   NEUTRALS 

BOTH  Admiral  von  Tirpitz  and  the  Austrian  Ad- 
miralty seem  to  have  begun  their  submarine  cam- 
paigns after  the  method  of  Captain  John  Sirius :  to  starve 
the  enemy  any  way  they  could  and  let  the  lawyers  argue 
about  it  afterwards.  From  the  beginning  of  the  block- 
ade, Scandinavian,  Dutch,  and  Spanish  vessels,  even  when 
bound  from  one  neutral  port  to  another,  were  torpedoed 
and  sunk  without  warning  by  the  German  submarines. 
Their  governments  protested  vigorously  but  without  ef- 
fect. Then  came  the  turn  of  the  United  States. 

The  Falaba,  a  small  British  passenger  steamer  outward 
bound  from  Liverpool  to  the  west  coast  of  Africa  was 
pursued  and  overtaken  off  the  coast  of  Wales  on  March 
28,  1915,  by  the  fast  German  submarine  U-28.  Realiz- 
ing that  their  vessel  would  be  sunk  but  expecting  that 
their  lives  would  be  spared,  the  crew  and  passengers  be- 
gan filling  and  lowering  away  the  boats  as  rapidly  as  pos- 
sible but  without  panic.  The  wireless  operator  had  been 
sending  calls  for  help  but  ceased  when  ordered  to  by  the 
captain  of  the  U-28.  No  patrol  boats  were  in  sight  and 
the  submarine  was  standing  by  on  the  surface,  with  both 
gun  and  torpedo-tubes  trained  on  the  motionless  steamer 
and  in  absolute  command  of  the  situation.  Without  the 
slightest  excuse  or  warning,  a  torpedo  was  then  dis- 

189 


1QO        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

charged  and  exploded  against  the  Falaba's  side,  directly 
beneath  a  half -lowered  and  crowded  lifeboat.  The  life- 
boat was  blown  to  pieces  and  the  steamer  sunk,  with  the 
loss  of  one  hundred  and  twelve  lives,  including  that  of 
an  American  citizen,  Mr.  Leon  C.  Thrasher,  of  Hard- 
wick,  Massachusetts. 


Photo  by  Brown  Bros. 

British  Submarine,  showing  one  type  of  disappearing  deck-gun 
now  in   use. 

This  cold-blooded  slaughter  of  the  helpless  horrified 
the  rest  of  the  world  and  did  Germany's  cause  an  in- 
calculable amount  of  harm.  The  German  people  were 
in  no  state  of  mind  to  realize  this,  for  they  had  gone 
literally  submarine-mad.  They  rejoiced  in  the  cartoons 
depicting  John  Bull  marooned  on  his  island  or  dragged 
under  and  drowned  by  the  swarming  "  U-boats/'  They 


The  Submarine  and  Neutrals        191 

sincerely  believed  that  within  a  few  months  the  power  of 
the  British  navy  would  be  broken  forever  and  that  in  the 
meanwhile  the  German  submarines  could  do  no  wrong. 
This  feeling  was  presently  intensified  by  the  loss  of  their 
hero,  the  gallant  von  Weddigen.  Decorated,  together 
with  every  man  of  his  crew,  with  the  Iron  Cross  and  pro- 
moted to  the  command  of  a  fine  new  submarine,  the 
Urzp,  he  did  effective  work  as  a  blockader  and  captured 
and  sank  several  prizes,  but  only  after  carefully  remov- 
ing those  on  board.  Then  the  U-2p  was  "sunk  with  all 
hands,  by  an  armed  patrol  boat,  the  British  declare: 
treacherously,  the  German  people  believe,  by  a  mer- 
chant ship  whose  crew  von  Weddigen  was  trying  to 
spare.1 

No  attempt  was  made  to  warn  the  American  tank 
steamer  Gtilflight,  bound  for  Rouen,  France,  with  a  con- 
traband cargo  of  oil,  when  she  was  torpedoed  by  a  Ger- 
man submarine  on  May  i.  The  vessel  stayed  afloat  but 
the  wireless  operator  and  one  of  the  sailors,  terrified  by 
the  shock,  jumped  overboard  and  were  both  drowned, 
while  the  captain  died  of  heart  failure  a  few  hours  later 
on  board  the  British  patrol  boat  that  took  off  the  crew 
and  brought  the  Gulflight  into  port. 

On  the  same  day  that  the  Gulflight  was  torpedoed, 
these  two  advertisements  appeared  together  in  the  New 
York  newspapers: 

iaVon  Weddigen,  I  was  told,  met  his  death  chasing  an  armed 
British  steamer.  Commanding  the  U-2Q,  he  went  after  a  whale  of 
a  British  freighter  in  the  Irish  Sea,  signaled  her  to  stop.  She 
stopped  but  hoisted  the  Spanish  flag.  As  he  came  alongside,  the 
steamer  let  drive  with  her  two  four-point-sevens  at  the  sub- 
marine, sinking  it  immediately."  Statement  of  Carl  Frank  List. 


OCEAN  STEAMSHIPS. 

v^rf^1^lll^-,^,^^v^^^^-^X^X^X^^^^^-^^^^^^^^^^^ 

CUNA.RD 


EUROPE    VIA    LIVERPOOL 

LUSITANIA 

Fastest  and  Largest  Steamer 
now  in  Atlantic  Service  Sails 
SATURDAY,  MAY  i,  10  A.  M. 

Transylvania,   .     .     .Fri.,      May     7,      5 

Orduna,    ....     Tues.,    May    18, 

Tuscania,       .     .     .     Fri., 

LUSITANIA,    .     .     Sat, 

Transylvania,     .     .     Fri., 


May 

May 
May 


21, 
29, 


P. 
A. 
P. 
A. 


M. 
M. 
M. 
M. 


June     4,     5 


Gibraltar  —  Genoa  —  Naples  —  Piraeus 
S.S.  Carpathia,  Thur.,  May  13,  Noon. 

ROUND  THE  WORLD  TOURS 

Through  bookings  to  all  principal  Ports  of  the  World. 
Company's    Office,  21-24  State  St.,  N.  Y. 


NOTICE:! 

TRAVELERS  intending  to  embark  on  the  At- 
lantic voyage  are  reminded  that  a  state  of  war 
exists  between  Germany  and  her  allies  and  Great 
Britain  and  her  allies;  that  the  zone  of  war  in- 
cludes the  waters  adjacent  to  the  British  isles; 
that,  in  accordance  with  formal  notice  given  by 
the  Imperial  German  Government,  vessels  flying 
the  flag  of  Great  Britain,  or  of  any  of  her  allies, 
are  liable  to  destruction  in  those  waters  and  that 
travelers  sailing  in  the  war  zone  on  ships  of  Great 
Britain  or  her  allies  do  so  at  their  own  risk. 
IMPERIAL  GERMAN  EMBASSY, 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  APRIL  22,  igis. 

Ip2 


The  Submarine  and  Neutrals        193 

This  warning  was  not  taken  seriously.  It  was  pointed 
out  that  the  German  submarines  had  sunk  only  com- 
paratively small  and  slow  steamers,  and  generally  be- 
lieved that  it  would  be  impossible  for  them  to  hit  a  fast- 
moving  vessel.  Not  a  single  passenger  canceled  his  pas- 
sage on  the  Lusitania,  though  all  admitted  that  the  Ger- 
many would  have  a  perfect  right  to  sink  her  if  they 
could,  as  she  was  laden  with  rifle-cartridges  and  shell- 
cases  for  the  Allies.  But  every  passenger  knew  that  he 
had  a  perfect  right  to  be  taken  off  first,  and  trusted  to 
the  Government  that  had  given  him  his  passports  to 
maintain  it. 

The  Lusitania  left  New  York  on  the  first  of  May.  At 
two  o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  Friday,  May  7,  she  was 
about  ten  miles  from  the  Irish  coast,  off  the  Old  Head 
of  Kinsale,  and  running  slowly  to  avoid  reaching  Queens- 
town  at  an  unfavorable  turn  of  the  tide,  when  Captain 
Turner  and  many  others  saw  a  periscope  rise  out  of  the 
water  about  half  a  mile  away. 

"  I  saw  a  torpeido  speeding  toward  us,"  declared  the 
captain  afterwards,  "  and  immediately  I  tried  to  change 
our  course,  but  was  unable  to  manceuver  out  of  the  way. 
There  was  a  terrible  impact  as  the  torpedo  struck  the 
starboard  side  of  the  vessel,  and  a  second  torpedo  fol- 
lowed almost  immediately.  This  one  struck  squarely 
over  the  boilers. 

"  I  tried  to  turn  the  Lusitania  shoreward,  hoping  to 
beach  her,  but  her  engines  were  crippled  and  it  was  im- 
possible. 

"  There  has  been  some  criticism  because  I  did  not 
order  the  lifeboats  out  sooner,  but  no  matter  what  may 


194        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

be  done  there  are  always  some  to  criticize.  Until  the 
Lusitania  came  to  a  standstill  it  was  absolutely  impos- 
sible to  launch  the  boats —  they  would  have  been 
swamped." 

The  great  ship  heeled  over  to  port  so  rapidly  that  by 
the  time  she  could  be  brought  to  a  stop  it  was  no  longer 
possible  to  lower  the  boats  on  the  starboard  side.  There 
was  no  panic-stricken  rush  for  the  boats  that  could  be 
lowered ;  all  was  order  and  seemliness  and  quiet  heroism. 
Alfred  Vanderbilt  stripped  off  the  lifebelt  that  might 
have  saved  him  and  buckled  it  about  a  woman ;  Lindon 
Bates,  Jr.,  was  last  seen  trying  to  save  three  children. 
Elbert  Hubbard,  Charles  Klein,  Justus  Miles  Forman, 
and  more  than  a  hundred  other  Americans  died,  and  died 
bravely.  As  the  Lusitania  went  down  beneath  them, 
Charles  Frohman  smiled  at  his  companion  and  said: 

"  Why  fear  death?  It  is  the  most  beautiful  adventure 
of  life." 

"  I  turned  around  to  watch  the  great  ship  heel  over," 
said  a  passenger  who  had  dived  overboard  and  swum  to 
a  safe  distance. 

"  The  monster  took  a  sudden  plunge,  and  I  saw  a 
crowd  still  on  her  decks,  and  boats  filled  with  helpless 
women  and  children  glued  to  her  side.  I  sickened  with 
horror  at  the  sight. 

"  There  was  a  thunderous  roar,  as  of  the  collapse 
of  a  great  building  on  fire;  then  she  disappeared,  drag- 
ging with  her  hundreds  of  fellow-creatures  into  the  vor- 
tex. Many  never  rose  to  the  surface,  but  the  sea  rapidly 
grew  thick  with  the  figures  of  struggling  men  and 
women  and  children." 


The  Submarine  and  Neutrals        195 

The  total  number  of  deaths  was  more  than  a  thou- 
sand. 

The  most  fitting  comment  on  the  sinking  of  the  Lusi- 
tania  were  the  words  of  Tinkling  Cloud,  a  full-blooded 
Sioux  Indian: 

"  Now  you  white  men  can  never  call  us  red  men  sav- 
ages 'again." 

Resting  its  case  on  "  Many  sacred  principles  of  justice 
and  humanity/'  refusing  to  accept  the  warning  published 
in  the  advertising  columns  of  the  newspapers  by  the 
German  embassy  either  "  as  an  excuse  or  palliation/'  and 
assuming  that  the  commanders  of  submarines  guilty  of 
torpedoing  without  warning  vessels  carrying  non-com- 
batants had  acted  "  under  a  misapprehension  of  orders," 
the  United  States  concluded  its  note  to  Germany,  six 
days  after  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania,  with  these  words 
of  warning: 

"  The  Imperial  German  government  will  not  expect 
the  government  of  the  Unit.ed  States  to  omit  any  word 
or  act  necessary  to  the  performance  of  its  sacred  duty  of 
maintaining  the  rights  of  the  United  States  and  its  citi- 
zens and  of  safeguarding  their  free  exercise  and  enjoy- 
ment." 

Before  any  reply  had  been  made  to  this,  a  German 
submarine  torpedoed  without  warning  the  American 
freight  steamer  Nebraskan,  on  May  25,  a  few  hours 
after  she  had  left  Liverpool  in  ballast  for  the  United 
States.  Fortunately  no  lives  were  lost,  and  although 
the  Nebraskan' 's  bows  had  been  blown  wide  open  by  the 
explosion,  she  remained  afloat  and  was  brought  back  to 
Liverpool  under  her  own  steam.  The  attack  was  tardily 


196        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

admitted  by  Germany  and  explained  by  the  fact  that  it 
had  been  made  at  dusk,  when  the  commander  of  the  sub- 
marine had  been  unable  to  recognize  the  steamer's  na- 
tionality. 

On  the  last  day  of  May,  Germany's  answer  was  re- 
ceived. The  Imperial  government  declared  that  the 
Lusitania  had  not  been  an  unarmed  merchantman  but  an 
auxiliary  cruiser  of  the  British  navy.  That  she  had  had 
masked  guns  mounted  on  her  lower  deck,  that  she  had 
Canadian  troops  among  her  passengers,  and  that  in  vio- 
lation of  American  law  she  had  been  laden  with  high 
explosives  which  were  the  real  cause  of  her  destruction 
because  they  were  set  off  by  the  detonation  of  the  single 
torpedo  that  had  been  discharged  by  the  submarine. 

To  these  allegations,  unaccompanied  by  the  slightest 
proof  and  contradicted  by  the  testimony  both  of  British 
and  American  eye-witnesses,  the  United  States  replied 
calmly  and  categorically.  It  was  pointed  out  that  if  the 
German  ambassador  at  Washington  or  the  German  con- 
sul at  New  York  had  complained  to  the  Federal  authori- 
ties before  the  Lusitania  sailed  and  either  guns  or  troops 
had  been  found  concealed  on  her,  she  would  have  been 
interned.  The  statement  of  Mr.  Dudley  Field  Malone, 
collector  of  the  Port  of  New  York,  that  the  Lusitania 
was  not  armed,  may  be  accepted  as  final.  Gustav  Stahl, 
the  German  reservist  who  signed  an  affidavit  that  he  had 
seen  guns  on  board  her,  later  pleaded  guilty  to  a  charge 
of  perjury  and  was  sentenced  to  eighteen  months  in  a 
Federal  penitentiary.  As  for  her  cargo,  every  passenger 
train  and  steamer  in  this  country  is  allowed  to  transport 
boxes  of  revolver  and  rifle  cartridges  —  the  only  ex- 


The  Submarine  and  Neutrals        197 

plosives  carried  on  the  Lusitania  —  because  it  is  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  set  off  any  number  of  them  together, 
either  by  heat  or  concussion. 

Dropping  these  points,  Germany  then  pledged  the 
safety  of  American  ships  in  the  war  zone,  if  distinctly 
marked,  and  to  facilitate  American  travel  offered  to  per- 
mit the  United  States  to  hoist  its  flag  on  four  belligerent 
passenger  steamers.  This,  if  accepted,  would  by  im- 
plication have  made  Americans  fair  game  anywhere  else 
on  the  high  seas,  and  was  accordingly  rejected  in  the 
strong  American  note  of  July  21. 

"  The  rights  of  neutrals  in  time  of  war/'  declared 
President  Wilson  through  the  medium  of  Secretary  Lan- 
sing, "  are  based  upon  principle,  not  upon  expediency, 
and  the  principles  are  immutable.  It  is  the  duty  and 
obligation  of  belligerents  to  find  a  way  to  adapt  the  new 
circumstances  to  them. 

"  The  events  of  the  past  two  months  have  clearly  in- 
dicated that  it  is  possible  and  practicable  to  conduct  such 
submarine  operations  as  have  characterized  the  activity 
of  the  Imperial  German  naval  commanders  within  the 
so-called  war-zone  in  substantial  accord  with  the  accepted 
practices  of  regulated  warfare.  The  whole  world  has 
looked  with  interest  and  increasing  satisfaction  at  the 
demonstration  of  that  possibility  by  German  naval  com- 
manders. It  is  manifestly  possible,  therefore,  to  lift 
the  whole  practice  of  submarine  attack  above  the  criti- 
cism which  it  has  aroused  and  remove  the  chief  causes 
of  offense." 

Repetition  by  the  commanders  of  German  naval  ves- 
sels of  acts  contravening  neutral  rights  "  must  be  re- 


198        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

garded  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  where 
they  effect  American  citizens,  as  deliberately  unfriendly." 

On  July  9,  a  German  submarine  discharged  a  torpedo 
at  the  west-bound  Cunard  liner  Orditna,  narrowly 
missed  her,  rose  to  the  surface  and  fired  some  twenty 
shells  before  the  steamer  got  out  of  range.  Fortunately, 
none  of  these  took  effect.  There  were  American  pas- 
sengers on  board  and  nothing  but  bad  marksmanship 
averted  another  Lusitania  horror. 

Three  days  later,  another  German  submarine  stopped 
an  American  freight  steamer,  the  Leelanlaw,  and  had  her 
visited  and  searched  by  a  boarding  party,  who  reported 
that  she  was  carrying  contraband  to  Great  Britain.  Be- 
cause the  vessel  could  not  be  taken  into  a  German  port 
and  there  was  no  time  to  throw  her  cargo  overboard, 
the  crew  were  taken  off  and  she  was  sunk. 

Here  was  a  perfectly  proper  procedure,  where  no  neu- 
tral lives  had  been  endangered  and  the  question  of  the 
damage  to  property  could  be  settled  amicably  in  a  court 
of  law.  It  was  to  the  practice  in  the  Leelanlaw  case 
that  President  Wilson  referred  to  so  hopefully  in  his 
note  of  July  21.  Though  the  weeks  went  by  without  any 
answer  from  Germany,  it  was  hoped  that  the  Imperial 
government  had  quietly  amended  the  orders  to  its  sub- 
marine commanders  and  that  no  more  passenger  ships 
would  be  attacked  without  warning. 

But  on  the  iQth  of  August,  the  White  Star-  liner 
Arabic  sighted  and  went  to  the  rescue  of  a  sinking  ship. 
This  proved  to  be  the  British  steamer  Dunsley,  which 
had  been  torpedoed  by  a  German  submarine.  As  the 
Arabic  came  up  and  prepared  to  lower  her  boats,  an- 


The  Submarine  and  Neutrals        199 

other  torpedo  from  the  same  submarine  exploded  against 
the  liner's  side,  killing  several  of  her  crew  and  sending 
her  to  the  bottom  in  eleven  minutes.  She  went  down 
within  fifty  miles  of  the  resting  place  of  the  Lusitania. 
She  was  sunk  without  warning  and  without  cause,  for 
she  had  been  bound  to  New  York,  with  neither  arms  nor 
ammunition  on  board,  nor  had  she  made  the  slightest  at- 
tempt either  to  escape  or  attack  the  submarine.  She 
carried  one  hundred  and  eighty-one  passengers,  twenty- 
five  of  whom  were  Americans.  Two  Americans  were 
drowned. 

The  German  government  at  once  asked  for  time  in 
which  to  explain,  and  the  Imperial  chancellor  hinted  that 
the  commander  of  the  submarine  that  sank  the  Arabic 
might  have  "  gone  beyond  his  instructions,  in  which  case 
the  Imperial  government  would  not  hesitate  to  give  such 
complete  satisfaction  to  the  United  States  as  would  con- 
form to  the  friendly  relations  existing  between  both 
governments/' 

Great  was  the  rejoicing  on  the  first  of  September, 
when  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff  declared  himself  au- 
thorized to  say  to  the  State  Department  that : 

"  Liners  will  not  be  sunk  by  our  submarines  without 
warning  and  without  safety  of  the  lives  of  noncombat- 
ants,  provided  that  the  liners  do  not  try  to  escape  or 
offer  resistance." 

But  only  three  days  afterwards,  the  west-bound 
Canadian  liner  Hesperian  was  sunk  by  the  explosion  of 
what  seemed  to  have  been  a  torpedo  launched  without 
warning  from  a  hostile  submarine.  And  on  top  of  this 
disturbing  incident  came  the  German  note  on  the  sink- 


20O        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

ing  of  the  Arabic,  the  perusal  of  which  sent  a  chill 
through  every  peace-lover  in  America.  Affirming  that 
the  captain  of  the  Arabic  had  tried  to  ram  the  submarine, 
the  note  declared  that  orders  had  been  issued  to  com- 
manders of  German  submarines  not  to  sink  liners  with- 
out provocation,  but  added  that  if  by  mistake  or  other- 
wise liners  were  sunk  without  provocation,  Germany 
would  not  be  responsible. 

"  The  German  government,"  it  ran,  "  is  unable  to  ac- 
knowledge any  obligation  to  grant  indemnity  in  the  mat- 
ter, even  if  the  commander  should  have  been  mistaken  as 
to  the  aggressive  intention  of  the  Arabic. 

"  If  it  should  prove  to  be  the  case  that  it  is  impossible 
for  the  German  and  American  governments  to  reach  a 
harmonious  opinion  on  this  point,  the  German  govern- 
ment would  be  prepared  to  submit  the  difference  of  opin- 
ion, as  being  a  question  of  international  law,  to  The 
Hague  Tribunal  for  arbitration.  .  .  . 

"  In  so  doing,  it  assumes  that,  as  matter  of  course,  the 
arbitral  decision  shall  not  be  admitted  to  have  the  im- 
portance of  a  general  decision  on  the  permissibility  .  .  . 
under  international  law  of  German  submarine  warfare." 

Assuming  that  this  extraordinary  stand  was  based  on 
a  misapprehension  of  the  facts,  the  United  States  sub- 
mitted to  Germany  the  testimony  of  American  passen- 
gers on  the  Arabic,  and  the  sworn  affidavits  of  her 
officers,  that  the  submarine  had  not  been  sighted  from 
the  steamer  and  that  no  attempt  had  been  made  to  ram 
the  undersea  boat  or  do  anything  but  rescue  the  crew 
of  the  Dunsley. 

By  this  time  a  change  had  come  over  the  spirit  of  the 


The  Submarine  and  Neutrals       201 

Imperial  German  government.  It  realized  that  the  sub- 
marine blockade  of  the  British  Isles  had  broken  down, 
and  that  further  examples  of  "  Frightfulness  "  on  the 
high  seas  would  do  Germany  no  good  and  would  prob- 
ably force  the  United  States  into  the  ranks  of  Germany's 
enemies.  The  sensible  and  obvious  thing  to  do  was  to 
take  the  easy  and  honorable  way  out  the  American  gov- 
ernment was  holding  open.  On  October  6,  Ambassador 
von  Bernstorff  gave  out  the  following  statement : 

"  Prompted  by  the  desire  to  reach  a  satisfactory  agree- 
ment with  regard  to  the  Arabic  incident,  my  government 
has  given  me  the  following  instructions : 

"  The  order  issued  by  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  to 
the  commanders  of  the  German  submarines,  of  which  I 
notified  you  on  a  previous  occasion,  has  been  made  so 
stringent  that  the  recurrence  of  incidents  similar  to  the 
Arabic  case  is  considered  out  of  the  question. 

"  According  to  the  report  of  Commander  Schneider  of 
the  submarine  which  sank  the  Arabic,  and  his  affidavit, 
as  well  as  those  of  his  men,  Commander  Schneider  was 
convinced  that  the  Arabic  intended  to  ram  the  submarine. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  the  Imperial  government  does 
not  doubt  the  good  faith  of  the  affidavit  of  the  British 
officers  of  the  Arabic,  according  to  which  the  Arabic 
did  not  intend  to  ram  the  submarine.  The  attack  of  the 
submarine  was  undertaken  against  the  instructions  issued 
to  the  commander.  The  Imperial  government  regrets 
and  disavows  this  act,  and  has  notified  Commander 
Schneider  accordingly. 

"  Under  these  circumstances,  my  government  is  pre- 
pared to  pay  an  indemnity  for  American  lives  which,  to 


2O2        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

its  deep  regret,  have  been  lost  on  the  Arabic.  I  am  au- 
thorized to  negotiate  with  you  about  the  amount  of  this 
indemnity." 

In  the  meantime,  fragments  of  the  metal  box  of  high 
explosives  that  had  blown  in  the  side  of  the  Hesperian 
had  been  picked  up  on  her  deck,  and  forwarded  by  the 
British  government  to  America.  United  States  naval 
experts  examined  the  twisted  bits  of  metal  and  declared 
them  to  have  been  pieces,  not  of  a  mine,  as  the  German 
government  insists,  but  of  an  automobile  torpedo. 
However,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  Hesperian  was 
armed  with  a  4.7  gun,  and  because  of  the  happy  outcome 
of  the  Arabic  affair,  it  seems  unlikely  that  anything  will 
be  done  about  it. 

But  only  a  month  later  there  was  begun  another 
"  Campaign  of  Frightfulness,"  this  time  by  Austrian 
submarines  in  the  Mediterranean.  As  the  passengers  on 
the  Italian  liner  Ancona,  one  day  out  from  Naples  to 
New  York,  were  sitting  at  luncheon  on  November  7th, 
they  "  felt  a  tremor  through  the  ship  as  her  engines 
stopped  and  reversed."  l  Then,  while  we  were  stopping, 
there  was  an  explosion  forward.  A  shell  had  struck  us. 

"  When  I  reached  the  deck,"  continues  Dr.  Greil, 
"  shell  was  fairly  pouring  into  us  from  the  submarine, 
which  we  could  see  through  the  fog,  about  100  yards 
away.  I  hurried  below  to  pack  a  few  things  in  my 
trunk.  As  I  was  standing  over  it,  a  shell  came  through 
the  porthole  and  struck  my  maid,  who  was  standing  at 
my  side.  It  tore  away  her  scalp  and  part  of  her  skull 

1  Statement  of  Dr.  Cecile  L.  Greil,  the  only  native-born  American 
on  board. 


The  Submarine  and  Neutrals       203 

and  went  on  through  the  wall,  bursting  somewhere  in- 
side the  ship. 

"  When  I  went  on  deck  again  I  found  the  wildest  ex- 
citement. It  was  like  the  old-time  stories  one  used  to 
read  of  shipwrecks  at  sea.  I  will  not  say  anything  about 
the  crew  because  I  could  not  say  anything  good.  They 
launched  fifteen  boats  but  only  eight  got  away.  I  was 
in  one  of  these.  ...  I  do  not  believe  the  submarine 
fired  deliberately  on  the  lifeboats.  They  were  trying  to 
sink  the  Ancona  with  shells,  but  they  finally  used  a  tor- 
pedo to  send  her  to  the  bottom.  I  looked  at  my  watch 
when  she  took  her  last  plunge.  It  was  12.45.  We  were 
picked  up  by  the  French  cruiser  Pluton  about  midnight/' 

The  commander  of  the  submarine  declared,  in  his  offi- 
cial report,  that  he  had  fired  only  because  the  Ancona 
had  tried  to  escape,  that  he  had  ceased  firing  as  soon  as 
she  came  to  a  stop,  that  the  loss  of  life  was  due  to  the 
incompetence  of  the  panic-stricken  crew  of  the  liner, 
whom  the  Austrian  officer  allowed  forty-five  minutes  in 
which  to  launch  the  lifeboats.  He  admitted,  however, 
that  at  the  expiration  of  this  time  he  had  torpedoed  and 
sunk  the  Ancona,  while  there  were  still  a  number  of 
people  on  her  decks. 

About  two  hundred  of  the  passengers  and  crew  were 
drowned  or  killed  by  shellfire.  Among  them  were  sev- 
eral American  citizens. 

"  The  conduct  of  the  commander/'  declared  the 
strongly-worded  American  note  of  December  6th,  "  can 
only  be  characterized  as  wanton  slaughter  of  defenseless 
non-combatants/'  .  .  .  The  government  of  the  United 
States  is  unwilling  ...  to  credit  the  Austro-Hungarian 


204       The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

government  with  an  intention  to  permit  its  submarines 
to  destroy  the  lives  of  helpless  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren. It  prefers  to  believe  that  the  commander  of  the 
submarine  committed  this  outrage  without  authority  and 
contrary  to  the  general  or  special  instructions  which  he 
had  received. 

"  As  the  good  relations  of  the  two  countries  must  rest 
upon  a  common  regard  for  law  and  humanity,  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  cannot  be  expected  to  do 
otherwise  than  to  denounce  the  sinking  of  the  Ancona 
as  an  illegal  and  indefensible  act,  and  to  demand  that  the 
officer  who  perpetrated  the  deed  be  punished,  and  that 
reparation  by  the  payment  of  an  indemnity  be  made  for 
the  citizens  of  the  United  States  who  were  killed  or  in- 
jured by  the  attack  on  the  vessel/' 

This  undiplomatic  language  caused  no  little  resentment 
in  Vienna.  But  after  a  restatement  of  the  Austrian  case, 
and  a  much  milder  rejoinder  from  Washington,  the 
American  demands  were  apparently  acceded  to.  In  the 
second  Austro-Hungarian  note,  which  was  published  in 
America  on  January  ist,  1915,  the  government  of  the 
Dual-Monarchy  disavowed  the  act  of  its  submarine  com- 
mander, declared  that  he  had  acted  in  violation  of  his 
orders  and  would  be  punished  therefore,  and  agreed  to 
pay  an  indemnity  for  the  American  citizens  who  had  been 
killed  or  injured. 

"  The  Imperial  and  Royal  Government/'  the  note  con- 
tinued, "  agrees  thoroughly  with  the  American  Cabinet 
that  the  sacred  commandments  of  humanity  must  be  ob- 
served also  in  war.  .  .  .  The  Imperial  and  Royal  Gov- 
ernment can  also  substantially  concur  in  the  principle  ex- 


The  Submarine  and  Neutrals       205 

pressed  .  .  .  that  private  ships,  in  so  far  as  they  do  not 
attempt  to  escape  or  offer  resistance,  may  not  be  de- 
stroyed without  the  persons  aboard  being  brought  into 
safety." 

Like  the  settlement  of  the  Arabic  case,  this  was  hailed 
as  a  great  diplomatic  victory  for  the  United  States. 
Unlike  it,  there  was  no  question  of  sharing  the  credit 
with  the  anti-submarine  activities  of  the  Allies,  whose 
merchant  ships  in  the  Mediterranean  were  being  tor- 
pedoed with  startling  frequency.  On  December  2ist,  the 
new  12,000  ton  Japanese  liner  Yasaka  Maru  was  sunk 
without  warning,  near  Port  Said.  Thanks  to  the  splendid 
discipline  of  her  crew,  no  lives  were  lost.  There  was  an 
alleged  American  on  board,  but  there  was  some  irreg- 
ularity about  his  citizenship  papers.  Nor  were  there  any 
Americans  aboard  the  French  passenger  ship  Ville  de  la 
do  tat,  torpedoed  on  Christmas  Eve,  with  the  loss  of 
seventy  lives.  There  was  nothing  to  mar  the^smug  satis- 
faction of  the  American  people  on  New  Year's  Day. 

Then  came  the  news  of  the  sinking  of  the  Peninsular 
and  Oriental  liner  Persia,  on  December  3Oth,  off  the 
Island  of  Crete. 

"  I  was  in  the  dining  room  of  the  Persia  at  1.05  P.M.," 
declares  Mr.  Charles  Grant  of  Boston,  who  was  one  of 
the  two  Americans  on  board.  "  I  had  just  finished  my 
soup,  and  the  steward  was  asking  me  what  I  would  take 
for  my  second  course,  when  a  terrific  explosion  occurred. 

"  The  saloon  became  filled  with  smoke,  broken  glass 
and  steam  from  the  boiler,  which  appeared  to  have  burst. 
There  was  no  panic  on  board.  We  went  on  deck  as 
though  we  were  at  drill,  and  reported  at  the  lifeboats  on 


206        The  Story  of  the  Submarine 

the  starboard  side,  as  the  vessel  had  listed  to  port.  .  .  . 

"  The  last  I  saw  of  the  Persia,  she  had  her  bow  in  the 
air,  five  minutes  after  the  explosion.  .  .  . 

"  Robert  McNeely,  American  Consul  at  Aden,  sat  at 
the  same  table  with  me  on  the  voyage.  He  was  not  seen, 
probably  because  his  cabin  was  on  the  port  side. 

"  It  was  a  horrible  scene.  The  water  was  black  as  ink. 
Some  passengers  were  screaming,  others  were  calling  out 
good-by.  Those  in  one  boat  sang  hymns." 

The  Persia  was  apparently  torpedoed,  without  warn- 
ing. Like  the  Hesperian,  she  was  armed  with  a  4.7  gun. 
One  of  the  ship's  officers  saw  the  white  wake  of  the 
torpedo.  But  no  one  saw  the  submarine. 

The  commander  of  that  submarine  evidently  believed, 
like  Captain  Sirius,  in  striking  first  and  letting  the  law- 
yers talk  about  it  afterwards. 


INDEX 


A-i,   124. 

A-s,   124,   135. 

A-s,  125. 

A-7,   124. 

A-8,  124,  126. 

Aboukir,  160,   169. 

Accidents,   124. 

Aeroplanes,   17,  71,  172. 

Air-chamber,  47. 

Alabama,  70. 

Albemarle,  43,  166. 

;4/£?t,  136. 

Alkmaar,  4. 

Alstitt's   submarine,   75. 

Ancona,  202. 

Anglo -Calif  ornian,   187. 

ApostolofFs    submarine,   66. 

Arabic,   198,  205. 

Argo,  92. 

Argonaut,  85,  92,  98. 

Argonaut,  Jr.,  85. 

Argus,  34. 

Asia,  12. 

Aube,  Admiral,  59. 

Audacious,  161,   169. 

Awash  condition,  127. 

£-;?,  124. 

£-u,   165. 

Badger,  168. 

Baker's  submarine,  82. 

Balance-chamber,  44,  48. 

Ballast-tanks,  16,  38,  57,  82,  in, 

138. 

Baralong  case,  i6J,  note. 
Barber,  Lieutenant  F.  M.,  16. 
Barlow,  Joel,  26,  34. 
Bates,   Jr.,   Lindon,    194. 
"  Battle  of  the  Kegs,"  23. 
Bauer,  Wilhelm,  56,  65,  120,  note. 
Beatty,  Admiral,  175. 
Beauregard,  General,  39. 


Belridge,    148. 

Berwick  Castle,  124. 

Bigskorth,  Squadron  Command- 
er, 172. 

Birmingham,    159. 

Blake,  Mr.,   10. 

Blockade,   177  et  seq. 

"Blowing  the  tanks,"  63,  112, 
122,  128. 

Booms,  92,  171. 

Borelli,   10. 

Boucher's  submarine,  66. 

Bourgois,  Captain,  57. 

Bourne,  William,  4. 

Boush,  Rear  Admiral,  137. 

Bouvet,  154. 

Boyle,  Robert,  7. 

British  Hollands,  80. 

British  Navy,  30,  70,  72,  175,  178. 

Brun,  Monsieur,  57. 

Bulwark,  161. 

Buoyancy  chamber,  49. 

Bushnell,  David,  6,  13  to  25,  28, 
95,  128,  154. 

C-n,  124. 

C-I4,   124. 

Cable-cutting,  89,  95. 

Cairo,    144. 

Caldwell,  Lieutenant  H.  C,  78,  79. 

Caprivi,   148. 

Carlson,  Captain,  40. 

Cerberus,  22. 

Chandler,  Mr.  Edward  F.,  53. 

Chlprin  gas,  126,  129,  137. 

Clairmont,  34,  81. 

Commodore  Jones,  144. 

Compass,    18,    113. 

Compensation-tank,  79,  118. 

Compressed-air  tank,  30,  57,  131. 

Conning-tower,    12,    15,    28,    78, 


207 


208 


Index 


Constantin's   submarine,   66. 

Cooking,  108. 

Copper  sheathing,  18,  35. 

Cressy,  160,  169. 

Crilley,  Frank,  137. 

Cushing,  Lieutenant,  43,  166. 

D-5,  155- 

Daniels,  Secretary,  81,  138. 

Dardanelles,  the,  64,  147,  154,  165. 

David,  36,  43,  61. 

Davis,  Commander,  52. 

Day,  J,,  10,  128. 

Delaying-valve,  47. 

Demologos,  35. 

Depth-control,    113. 

Destroyers,  35,  104,  168,  170. 

Delfin,  124. 

Dewey,  Admiral,  79,  145. 

Diable  Marin,  65,  120,  note. 

Diesel,  Dr.,  108. 

Diesel  engines,  104,  135,  184. 

Divers,  14,  40,  56,  136. 

Diving-bells,  4. 

Diving  compartment,  83,  88,  94, 

130,  132. 
Diving-planes,  28,  38,  48,  71,  72, 

78,    ill. 

Dixon,  Lieutenant,  40. 
Dorothea,  32. 
Doughty,  Thomas,  115. 
Doyle,    Sir    Arthur    Conan,    178, 

186. 

Drzewiecki,  64,  71. 
Dunsely,  198. 
Dubilier,  Mr.  W.,   171. 

E-4,  160. 
E-5,  124. 
E-9,  156. 
E-JI,  165. 
E-is,  164. 
E-I5,   165. 
Eagle,  12,  18. 
Edison  battery,   126. 
Eel-boats,  4,  14. 

Electric   Boat   Company,  81,  96. 
Electric  motors,   108,   184. 
Electric   submarines,   59,  60,   66, 
83,  note. 


Emerald  Isle,  72. 

Emergency  drop-keel,  10,  15,  83, 

128. 

Enver  Pasha,  166. 
Ericsson,  John,  82,  104. 
Escape  from  sunken  submarine, 

130. 
Even-keel  submergence,  61,  96. 

F-4,  124,  136. 

Falaba,   189. 

Faotomu,     Lieutenant    Takuma, 

128. 

Farfadet,  124. 
Farragut,  Admiral,  142. 
Fenian   Brotherhood,  71. 
Fenian  Ram,  73. 
Fessenden  oscillator,  119,  125. 
Fishing  for  submarines,  170,  183. 
Foca,   124. 

Folger,  Commander,  82. 
Forman,  Justus  Miles,  194. 
Formidable,  162,  169. 
Frohman,   Charles,   194. 
Fulton,  135. 
Fulton,  Robert,  26  to  35,  69,  139, 

186. 

Gages,  20,  112,   129. 
Garett,  Rev.  Mr.,  61. 
Gasoline  engines,  86,  105. 
Gasoline  fumes,  90,  107,  125. 
German  contributions,  107,  115. 
Gimlets,   16,  18,  64. 
Goubet  submarines,  60. 
Grant,  Charles,  205. 
Greased  leather,  6,  9. 
Greil,  Dr.  Cecile  L.,  202. 
Giuseppe  Garibaldi,  169. 
GulHight,  191. 

Guns,  83,  102,  174,  187,  202. 
Guncotton,  46. 
Gustave  Zede,  59. 
Gymnote,  59. 
Gyroscope,   50,   53,   114. 
Gyroscopic  compass,  113. 

Hague  Tribunal,  148,  200. 
Halstead,    56. 


Index 


209 


Hammond,  Jr.,  Mr.  John  Hays, 

55- 

Hanson,  Captain,  183. 
Harsdoffer,   5,  6. 
Hatsuse,  147. 
Hautefeullie,  Abbe   de,  7. 
Hela,  155. 
Hermes,  161,  168. 
Hesperian,  199,  202,  206. 
Hogue,   1 60,    169. 
Holbrook,  Commander,   165. 
Holland,  John   P.,  68  to  81,  95, 

104,   115,   175- 
Holland,  76  to  81,  86,   103,   104, 

125. 

Holland  No.  i,  70. 
Holland  No.  2,  71. 
Holland  No.  8,  76. 
Holland  Torpedo-boat  Company, 

75,  79,  81. 

"  Horn  of  the  Nautilus,"  29. 
Housatonic,  40. 
Howard,  Ensign,  36. 
Hovgaard,    Commander,   75. 
Huascar,  50. 
Hubbard,  Elbert,  194. 
Hundley,  38  to  41. 
Hydroplanes,  84,  95. 
Hydrostatic  valve,  48,  128,  154. 

Intelligent  Whale,  56,  81,  86. 
International  law,  178,   179,  200. 
Irresistible,  154,  161. 

James  I,  5. 

"  Jammer,"  the,  46. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  14,  16,  22,  25. 

Jonson,   Ben,  3,  64. 

X"-class,   138. 
Kambala,  124. 
Kearsarge,  78. 
Kheyr-el-din,  165. 
Klein,  Charles,   194. 
Krupps,  the,  99. 

Labeuf,  Monsieur,  91. 
Lacavalerier,  Senor,  66. 
Lacomme,    Dr.,    64. 
Lake,  Mr.  Simon,  82  to  99,  175. 


Laurenti,  Major  Cesare,  134. 

Laurenti  dock,  1^4. 

Le  Son,  9. 

Lee,  Ezra,   15  to  22. 

Leelanlaw,  198. 

Leon  Gambetta,  169. 

Leveling-vanes,  96. 

Lifeboats,    131. 

List,   Carl   Frank,    187,    191. 

Lord  St.  Vincent,  Admiral,  32. 

Lupuis,   Captain,  44. 

Lusitania,  181,  192  to  198. 

Lutin,  124. 

McNeely,   Robert,  206. 

Maine,  76. 

Majestic,  166. 

Makaroff,  Admiral,  147. 

Malone,  Mr.  Dudley  Field,  196. 

Marblehead,  146. 

Maryland,  137. 

Merrimac,  69. 

Mersenne,  6,  91. 

Messudieh,  165. 

Microphones,  171. 

Mines,     Confederate,     143,     154, 

note, 
contact,   139,   144,    148  to   155, 

179. 

drifting,  23,  139,  154. 

electric,  89,  144,  151. 

observation,    144. 
Mine-field,  151,  165. 
Mine-planter,  146,  149. 
Mine-sweeping,    139,    152. 
Moltke,  164. 
Monitor,  42,  69,  81. 
Mother-ship,  100,  in,  135. 
Mute,  35. 

Napier,  John,  4. 

Napoleon,  27,  32,  33. 

Narval,  91. 

Nautilus,  Fulton's,  27  to  31,  56, 

72. 

Nautilus,  Jules  Verne's,  59. 
Navigating  bridge,  103,  in. 
Nebraskan,  195. 
Nemo,  Captain,  59. 
New  Ironsides,  36,  144. 


210 


Index 


New  York,  78. 
Nordenfeldt,  28,  61,  74,  95. 
Nordenfeldt  II,  62,  78,  83. 
Notes,  American,  180,  195  to  197, 
200,  203. 

Austrian,  204. 

British,  181. 

German,  191,  199. 
No.  6,  124,  128. 

Oars,  6,  9,  16,  17,  66. 
Ocean,    154. 
Oil-engine,  60,  78,  104. 
Olympic,  162,  178. 
Orduna,  198. 
Osage,  115. 
Oxygen,  7,  131. 
Ozark,  loo. 

Panlow,  Captain  Archibald,  187. 

Panoramas,  26. 

Payne,  Lieutenant,  39. 

Pendulum,  49,  53. 

Peral,  64,  66. 

"  Peripatetic  Coffin,"  39. 

Persia,  205. 

Persius,  Captain,  183. 

Periscope,  78,  83,  114,  125,  186. 

Petropavlosk,  147. 

Philip,  Captain,  146. 

Phosphorescence,  6,   19. 

Pipe-masts,  86,  95. 

Pitt,  32. 

Plongeur,   57,    132. 

Plunger,  75. 

Pluton,  203. 

Plumose,  124,  125,  134. 

Pneumatic  gun,  79. 

Pommern,  163. 

"  Porpoise  dive,"  78,  160.. 

Porter,  Admiral  David,  40. 

"  Primer,"   the,  46. 

Propellers,  adjustable,  82. 

primitive,  16,  28. 

transverse,  83. 

vertical-acting,    16,  28,  61,  83, 

95  154. 
Protector,  95. 
Pumps,  1 6,  28,  in. 


Ramillies,  35. 
Ramming,  124,  168,  200. 
Reducing-valve,  48. 
Rescuing,  125,  156. 
Resurgam,  61. 
Riou,  Olivier,  59. 
Rogers,  Commodore,  34. 
Rotterdam  Boat,  9,  14,  69. 
Royal  Edward,  166. 
Rudders,  bow,  96,  HI. 
horizontal  (see  diving-planes). 

$-126,  169. 

San  Francisco,  149. 

Safety-buoy,  132. 

catch,   47. 

helmets,    130. 

jackets,  130. 
Sails,  29,  31. 
Salvage  docks,   134. 
Sampson,  Admiral,  89,  146. 
Schneider,  Commander,  201. 
Scope,  Lieutenant  Perry,  100. 
Searchlight,  86,  186. 
Self  ridge,  Rear-admiral,  115. 
Servo-motor,  49,  53. 
Sirius,    Captain   John,    177,    187, 

189,  206. 

Skerrett,  Mr.  R.  G.,  135. 
Spuyten  Duyvil,  42. 
Stahl,   Gustav,   196. 
"  Staple  of  News,  the/'  3. 
Steam  submarine,  61. 
Steamboat,  32,  34. 
Storage-batteries,  59,  126,  184. 
"  Striker,"  the,  46. 
Stromboli,  42. 
Submarine    fighting    submarine, 

I74-. 

Submarine  railroad,  64. 
Submersible,  91. 
Superstructure,  90,  102. 
Symons's  submarine,  9. 

Taylor,  D.  W.,  Chief  Construc- 
tor, U.  S.  N.,  96. 

Telephoning  from  submarines, 
88,  132. 

Tecumseh,   142. 

Templo,  Alvary,  71. 


Index 


211 


Texas,  146. 

Thrasher,  Leon  C.,  190. 
Tinkling  Cloud,  195. 
Tissot,  Professor,  171. 
Torpedo,  automobile,  44  to  55. 

boats,   45,    103. 

Brennan,   59. 

Chandler,    53. 

controllable,  43,  54,  55. 

cost  of,  47,  103. 

Davis  gun-,  52. 

Fulton's  anchored,  139. 

Hammond  wireless,  55. 
Torpedo-nets,  34,  170. 

origin  of  name,  29. 

practice,  116. 

recovering,  47,  123. 

Schwartzkopf,  52,  160. 

Sims-Edison,   54. 

spar,  37,  43. 

tubes,  45,  46,  63,  117,  118,  133, 
138. 

wake  of,  49,  206. 
"  Torpedo   War  and   Submarine 

Explosions,"  35,  139.    ' 
Torpedo,   Whitehead,   44  to   52, 

117. 

Transports,  166,  171,  178. 
Trim,  96. 

Trimming-tanks,   117. 
Trinitrotuluol,  52. 
Triumph,  166. 
Trumbull,  Governor,  14. 
Turner,  Captain,  193. 
Turtle,  12,  14  to  22. 

U-i,  108. 
U-3,  124,  132. 
U-9,  1 60. 
U-12,  169. 


U-15,  159. 

U-i6,  183. 

U-28,  189. 

U-29,  191. 

U-39,  187,  note. 

U-si,  166. 

Vanderbilt,  Alfred,  194. 

Vand  der  Wonde,  Cornelius,  6. 

Van  D  rebel,  Cornelius,  4  to  9,  41. 

Vendemiaire,   124. 

Vereshchagin,    147. 

Vickers  Sons  &  Maxim,  80. 

Ville  de  la  do  tat,  205. 

Von  Weddigen,  Lieutenant-com- 
mander, 18,  160,  191. 

Von  Bernstorff,  Ambassador, 
199-. 

Von  Tirpitz,  Admiral,  69,  177, 
187,  189. 

Vulcan,  132. 

Waddington,  Mr.  J.  R,  83,  note. 
War-head,   47,    52. 
War  Zone>  30,  179. 
Washington,  George,  13,  17,  25. 
Wheeled  submarines,  84. 
White  mice,  13,   no. 
Whitehead,  Mr.,  44. 
Whitney,   Secretary,  74. 
Wilson,  President,  180,  197,  198. 
Wright  brothers,  71. 

X-4,  102  to  123. 

Yasaka  Maru,  205. 
Yenisei,  146. 

Zeppelins,  172. 


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